Fraudster who stole Gift Aid worth £700k is jailed

A fraudster has been jailed after faking hundreds of charitable donations to steal more than £700,000 from the public purse.

Abdul Robbani ran a sophisticated Gift Aid scam which led to huge payouts made to him by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) between March 2020 and May 2021.

The 54-year-old, of Perry Hill, Chelmsford, used the money to pay off significant personal and family debts, including mortgages on several homes.

He was jailed for four years and eight months at Chelmsford Crown Court, having admitted revenue fraud and three offences of transferring criminal property.

Robbani used a community amateur sports club (CASC) he set up, RMI Club, as a front for his fraudulent activities.

He made 60 false Gift Aid claims to HMRC totalling more than £1m, of which £708,750 was paid out.

Gift Aid is a government scheme that allows charities and CASCs to reclaim tax on donations made by UK taxpayers.

However, Robbani lied about his donors.

"Robbani cynically exploited that system for personal gain, pocketing hundreds of thousands of pounds of public money that should never have been his," said Emma Beazley, of the Crown Prosecution Service.

"He went to elaborate lengths to cover his tracks, embroiling hundreds of innocent members of the public into his scheme by falsely listing them as donors."

The false claims submitted by Robbani stated 716 individuals had donated between £5,000 and £10,000 to RMI Club.

HMRC began its investigation in 2021 and found many of the donors had been duped about a cryptocurrency mining scheme Robbani promoted.

The fraudster had previous convictions for deception and forgery from the 1990s, HMRC said.

Investigators have managed to forfeit £215,000 from a bank account he owned - and have traced a further £485,750 to his personal account.

Confiscation proceedings are ongoing under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Steve Doyle, of HMRC's fraud investigation service, said: "Robbani stole money that was meant to support genuine charities and instead used it to pay off mortgages and debts.

"This case shows that no matter how sophisticated a crypto scheme may appear we can and will take action."

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