A restaurant owner who claimed he was a waiter to get Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit for almost two years has been convicted of fraud.

Mohammed Mantu Miah, 52, of Rayfield Close, Bromley, fraudulently obtained £14,985 in Housing Benefit and £2,043 in Council Tax Benefit from December 2011 to July 2013.

He claimed he was working as a waiter at Mintoos in Baston Road, Hayes, earning £121.60 a week, failing to declare that was actually the proprietor of the business and the owner of the property.

Mr Miah had claimed Housing and Council Tax Benefit in December 2011 when he rented a property in Addison Road, Bromley, which ran to the 1 July 2013 when post was returned from Addison Road as ‘gone away’.

Following a tip-off that Mr Miah was trying to re-open the restaurant after its repossession by the mortgage company, it was revealed that Mr Miah had owned the property since 1996 and that the equity in the property, despite mortgage arrears, exceeded the capital limit of £16,000 for claiming benefit.

After initially electing for a trial by jury, Mr Miah changed his plea to guilty.

Mr Miah was given a six-month sentence suspended for two years on March 23 and ordered to complete 50 hours of unpaid work.

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He will have to repay the £17,028 owed to Bromley Council within six months from the proceeds of the restaurant sale, which is being enforced by the mortgage company.

Mr Miah will also have to pay £6,000 towards legal costs and a victim surcharge to the court.

Further charges relating to a claim totalling £8,060.78 made by Mr Miah when he and his family were in temporary accommodation were not pursued but ordered to be left on file and will be recovered from Mr Miah directly by the Benefit Section.

A Council spokesperson said: “This successful prosecution demonstrates our continued determination to prosecute any cheat who claims a benefit or allowance they are not entitled to.

“Stealing public money that is meant for those in genuine need is not tolerated.”

This case brings the total of Bromley benefit claimants prosecuted to 430 since Bromley Council started working in partnership with Greenwich Council to track, trace and prosecute benefit fraudsters.

Anyone with information about a suspected benefit fraud can call the fraud hotline on 0800 169 6975 or email audit@bromley.gov.uk or download the anti-fraud app at www.bromley.gov.uk/fraud.