Iraqi benefit cheat who failed to declare £35,000 of savings claiming it would have broken Sharia law walks free from court

An Iraqi immigrant who falsely claimed at least £35,000 in benefits has been spared jail today.

Majid Hussain claimed income support, housing benefit and a council tax reduction for more than a decade - despite having more than £35,000 stashed away in a bank account.

He had denied three counts of benefit fraud but was found guilty at Exeter Crown Court.

Hussain walked free from court however, when he was handed a nine month suspended sentence.

The court had heard during the trial how Hussain, of Exeter in Devon, arrived in the UK as a mature student in the 1980s funded by Saddam Hussein’s government.

He was left around £18,000 by his father but said that the money had been put into a Royal Bank of Scotland account for use as a trust fund to pay for his children’s education.

But the unemployed 62-year-old signed forms saying that he did not have any undeclared savings when claiming benefits

He said that under Sharia law he did not consider the money to belong to him.

While claiming benefits, the account grew to be worth £36,000.

Hussain, who has never worked since he arrived in the UK, received at least £35,000 in benefits between 1997 and 2010 - though the precise figure can never be determined because records do not go back far enough.

The father of four stopped receiving income support after the existence of the account was revealed in 2010 - at which point he immediately began withdrawing money from it.

However, he is still receiving disability living allowance because he suffers from Crohn’s Disease, kidney problems and muscle pain.

The jury was given a dossier of forms signed by the defendant in which he declared that neither he nor any of his children - aged between nine and 18 - had any savings affecting the means test for their benefits.

His defence statement read: ‘He did not notify the DWP of some of the money under his control because it was left to him on strict Islamic terms by a relative for the sole use of his children.

‘In accordance with Islamic belief and law, there was no possibility or option for it ever to be used for his own use and as such there was no intention to deceive.’

Testifying in court yesterday, Hussain said: ‘I read the Koran and in the Koran it commands you to honour your parents.

‘You have to respect them. In the Koran we call them the “Second God”.’

He continued: ‘I have an article of the Koran here - it says, “Allah commands you to render back your trust to those to whom they are due and not to break your oath. For Allah knows all that you do.”

‘That’s what we’ve been taught - always obey your parents. I was just going to keep the money for my children and not touch it. I had no right to the money.’

He added that his father had ‘worked so hard’ to save the money he gave his son, working in heat of up to 56C (133F).

Hussain initially told investigators he had saved the money from the scholarship he received from the Iraqi government while studying at the University of Exeter from 1986 to 1996, according to prosecutor Gareth Evans.

When an official asked him if he knew his benefits would be withdrawn if he had declared the account, he said ‘yes’, the court heard.

He then allegedly started withdrawing large sums of money from the RBS account, reducing it by £24,000 over seven months.

Mr Evans told jurors: ‘I am afraid that his declarations that he had no bank accounts or savings with his wife or any children he was claiming for was a lie.

‘If he would have disclosed this account then he would not have been entitled to benefits at all.

‘He has been dishonest claiming his benefits, he knew that he should have declared the account and he failed to do so dishonestly in order to claim benefits.’

Sentencing Hussain, Recorder Paul Dunkels QC said: ‘The jury rejected that this money was held in trust for your children’s education.

‘The (benefit) forms you filled in when making your claims made it perfectly clear that you had a duty to tell the authorities (of the money).

‘The real extent of how much money (paid in benefits) can never be obtained because your fraud has gone on for such a long period of time.’

He made no order for costs, although confiscation proceedings are expected to be taken against Hussain.

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