Thread: Female campaigner for gipsy rights 'ran £2.6m benefit scam for Romanians'...

Female campaigner for gipsy rights 'ran £2.6m benefit scam for Romanians'
By Dan Newling and Stephen Wright
The Daily Mail, 08/03/2010

A campaigner for Roma gipsies' rights has been charged with helping scores of Romanians illegally claim millions in benefits.

Lavinia Olmazu, 30, and her boyfriend Alin Enachi, 29, are said to have masterminded a scam by which 172 Romanians claimed £2.6million.

Olmazu, who was arrested last week, was working as an 'inclusivity outreach worker' to Roma gipsies for both Haringey and Waltham Forest councils in North London.


Fake documents: Lavinia Olmazu allegedly helped Romanian migrants to claim millions in benefits

The academic, who has campaigned for greater understanding of gipsy culture, is accused with Enachi of using a supposedly charitable organisation called Roma Concern to help coordinate the fraud.

The couple appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday alongside six gipsies, each of whom is alleged to have pocketed thousands of pounds from the scam.

Under rules introduced when Romania joined the EU in 2006, Romanian migrants cannot get a National Insurance number - which is the key to getting benefits - unless they can prove they have paid employment lined up.

Olmazu and her boyfriend are accused of giving unemployed Romanians false documentation which purported to offer them work. They are also said to have provided false invoices and references purportedly showing they were working.

Scores then used fraudulently obtained NI numbers to claim child benefit, working tax credit and child tax credit, the court heard.

The fraud was allegedly facilitated by Enachi, who attended Benefits Agency interviews with Romanians as a translator.


Alin Enachi is also accused of masterminding the £2.6million benefits scam

Prosecutor Matthew McCabe revealed that over a 17-month period to last July, Enachi attended 356 interviews, mainly at the Jobcentre Plus office in Tooting, South London. And 172 of these individuals went on to claim benefit.

Mr McCabe said Olmazu 'saw Roma gipsies to advise them on how to apply for a National Insurance number and benefit'.

While the couple, who moved to Britain in 2007 and live in Woodford Green, Essex, were said to be living here legally, they appeared in court with six jobless Roma gipsies whom District Judge Nicholas Evans said had 'no right to be here'.

Stelian Dumitru, 23, and his brothers Ardelean, 24, Daniel, 20, and Cristian, 29, appeared alongside Stelian's girlfriend Leventica Vasile, 24, and Cristian's girlfriend Paula Mihai, 29. They all live in council properties in Tottenham, North London.

Stelian and Vasile - who is a beggar - were said to have obtained £27,000 from the scam. Cristian, a Big Issue vendor, and his girlfriend - who have six children between the ages of nine months and 11 - allegedly obtained £36,000. Daniel, a father of two, is said to have obtained £12,515. Mr McCabe said:

'This case concerns an organised campaign to obtain benefit. 'The two main defendants, under the umbrella of a supposed charitable organisation called Roma Concern, facilitated the obtaining of National Insurance numbers.

'The offences came to light as a result of an internal Department of Work and Pensions investigation into an unusually high number of applications involving Roma applicants.'

Olmazu, who has a ten-year-old son, has dedicated her life to studying Roma gipsies and has addressed the UN on their rights.

The defendants are all charged with conspiracy to defraud and fraud by misrepresentation.

They were all remanded in custody and will appear at Southwark Crown Court, in South London, on May 6.

The Charity Commission has no record of Roma Concern, but Olmazu and Enachi are listed at Companies House as directors of a company with the same name.

What do they expect when they put foreigners into positions of power - especially foreigners with a big chip on their shoulders?

An academic who can't spell racism? Lolling....

Shame Hitler never had time to finish the job he started.

Shame Hitler never had time to finish the job he started.

That's a repugnant thing to say. Its that kind of hate talk that the pro mass immigartionists love to hear - confirming that those opposed to immigration are filthy genocidal racists. What an idiot you are.

Originally Posted by flamingreen

That's a repugnant thing to say. Its that kind of hate talk that the pro mass immigartionists love to hear - confirming that those opposed to immigration are filthy genocidal racists. What an idiot you are.

I concur .........

Originally Posted by angelman

Far too unsubtle in your argument. Detracts far too much from what you are trying to say.

But my argument isn't subtle and I'm not 'trying' to say anything. I'm saying that they are thieving, child molesting, sub-human parasites and it's a shame the Nazis never did for them in their entirety.