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Accountant investigated in £4m academies fraud

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24th Jul 2014
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An accountant and part-time pastor is at the centre of a fraud investigation, as he has yet to repay £4.1m of academy funds after previously being ordered to do so by a High Court.

Nigerian-born Samuel Kayode was told by the court to repay the money to the Haberdashers' Aske's chain of academies more than a year ago. 

He was an accountant at Haberdashers' Aske's Federation, which runs three schools in South East London.

Kayode had worked at one of the academies, Hatcham College, since 1997, becoming accounts manager for the whole chain. The Daily Mail reported that in 2012, it emerged that a "large sum of money" was missing from the academies' funds. It reported that both Kayode and his deceased wife's assets were then frozen. 

The accountant was arrested that year but not yet charged with any crime.

As the Mail reported, it appeared sums of school money had been paid into a personal Nigerian bank account and a company called Samak. The trust launched a High Court case to redeem the missing money. However, the Mail said Kayode denied any wrongdoing and claimed "all transactions had been authorised by the finance director".

The trust won its claim last year against Kayode and the estate of his late wife, who were ordered to pay back more than £4m plus interest.

Adrian Percival, chief executive of Haberdashers’ Aske’s Federation Trust, was reported by the Daily Mail as saying: "The civil case found in favour of the federation and we are trying to recover the money that has been taken from us. We are obviously shocked and saddened."

According to the trust's most recent accounts, £1.35m in exceptional costs were posted in 2012 for professional fees (£437,000) and financial loss through unauthorised transfers of £914,000. A further £106,000 in professional fees were incurred in the year to 31 August 2013. The unauthorised financial transactions reported in the 2011/12 annual accounts were £1,047,788, bringing the total reported costs of the alleged fraud so far to just over £2.5m.

An independent auditor's "report on regularity" is listed on the contents page of the 2013 accounts, but is not included in the publicly available version.

The affair prompted local MP Heidi Alexander (Labour, Lewisham East) to table a Commons question to the secretary of state for education about the theft and whether the department has discussed the issue with the trust's auditors, Crowe Clark Whitehill.

Parliamentary under secretary Edward Timpson MP responded that the trust had reported to the Education Funding Agency (EFA) that a theft had occurred. The department has not had recent discussions with the trust’s auditors, but the EFA reviewed the most recent audited accounts in early 2014, he said. The agency also monitored the results of a "full independent review" undertaken by the trust and has continued to monitor the progress of a police investigation and the trust's recovery of funds.

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