£1m fraud probe after 15 claimed over Grenfell flat
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Fraudster Masi Naqshbandi meets the Duke of Cambridge last September
Fraud investigators have been called in after 15 members of the same family received public aid worth up to £1m and at least three new homes by claiming they lived in a single flat destroyed by the Grenfell Tower fire.
One of Britain’s most notorious “crash-for-cash” fraudsters, Masi Naqshbandi, is among the relatives rehoused in new properties, including flats in a luxury development in Kensington, west London, furnished by John Lewis.
The Naqshbandi family insist their main residence before the fire on June 14 last year was a three-bedroom flat on the third floor of Grenfell Tower. However, only four names are believed to appear on the original tenancy agreement.
Concerns among council officials grew when some of the relatives started listing the flat as their address on official documentation after the tragedy. Two days after the fire, one couple registered Grenfell Tower as the address on their son’s birth certificate.
Under council rules, adults who can prove they lived in the tower at the time of the blaze are each eligible for rehousing with their families, with all rent and utility bills waived until July 2019.
Before then, they are put up in hotels and given a weekly allowance of up to £300 to cover costs such as meals.
Inquiries by The Sunday Times have revealed one Naqshbandi family member and his partner still appear on the electoral roll at an address in Harrow, several miles away.
The family denies any wrongdoing, and officials accept some of the relatives have legitimately benefited from council assistance.
However, the surprisingly large number of claimants involved in the case has led Kensington and Chelsea council to begin a fraud investigation. It is understood that some of the evidence collected has been passed to police.
A source familiar with the case described it as “outrageous”. Officials feel there are many bereaved Grenfell survivors still living in hotels and other emergency accommodation who are more deserving of help.
The Naqshbandis, originally from Afghanistan, did not lose any immediate family in the fire, which killed 71 people, and one person from their flat suffered minor injuries. Three family members were in Australia at the time.
Those saying they lived in the three-bedroom flat before the blaze include a mother and father and six adult children, at least three of whom have partners and a young child each.
An uncle from Afghanistan is also receiving taxpayer-funded aid from the council. He is said to have registered his driving licence at the flat only last month — eight months after the fire. One of the siblings, convicted of gang-related violence, has been linked to an address in south London.
Members of the Naqshbandi family have been given at least three new flats in a social housing block set aside for Grenfell survivors at Kensington Row, a high-end development close to the amenities of Kensington High Street. One of the siblings, Masi Naqshbandi, 33, said on Friday that he and his partner, Mojda Habib, 30, had recently been moved into a new flat with their nine-month-old son.
In August 2012, Naqshbandi was jailed for more than seven years for his role in one of Britain’s biggest accident insurance frauds. He and his gang were found guilty of staging 250 crashes to make insurance claims worth in excess of £6.5m.
Investigators said he used the proceeds of the scam to fund a lavish lifestyle, including driving prestige cars and staying at the seven-star Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai. His sentence was reduced to six years on appeal and he is believed to have been freed in 2015.
Last September he met Prince William at the launch of a support centre for Grenfell survivors.
Naqshbandi insisted this weekend that he and his partner were living in Grenfell Tower well before the fire and that he had documents to prove this. He said some relatives slept in the living room and shared bedrooms, but admitted that the entire family did not stay in the flat at the same time.
When told that his name and Habib’s name appear on the electoral register dated December 1, 2017, at his in-laws’ address in Harrow, Naqshbandi said it was an address he gave for legal reasons for “overnight stays” and “day visits” from prison.
The Grenfell flat does, however, appear on the birth certificate of the couple’s son. The child was born on May 25, 2017, at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, but was only registered with the local council on June 16, two days after the fire.
Naqshbandi said he had no other permanent address to give. “We’ve got evidence that we’ve been registered with Kensington and Chelsea council for 20 years when [my family] first moved to this country,” he said.
“They’ve moved us like a football — east, west, north, south and even to Coventry — but they finally gave my family this council house [in Grenfell] in July 2016, by which time all the children were grown up.”
At least one relative remains in a four-star hotel near Regent’s Park — although the booking is under Masi Naqshbandi’s name.
Kensington and Chelsea council said: “We have a number of fraud investigations under way and we have handed a number of cases to the police. We do not discuss case specifics or individual details as it may impact investigations or any subsequent prosecutions. We have clear policies in place for officers to follow when they think fraud has taken place and we will take action — including evictions — where necessary.”
The Metropolitan police said: “We will investigate anyone who we think is fraudulently profiting from the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower.”
