THE National Crime Agency (NCA) in UK has recovered over £1 million worth of assets from a Nigerian fraudster and his Indian-origin British partner. They had led extravagant lifestyles despite their combined declared annual income never exceeding £49,000.
The high court has ordered Ayodele Oluseye Odewale (also known as Ayodele Balogun), 42, and his partner of 21 years Sara Bharat Yadav, 40, to hand over £1,011,431 to the NCA under the proceeds of crime act.
The agency said that it has recovered £797,431 from their bank accounts, three Patek Philippe watches valued at £199,000, and a private car registration plate worth £15,000.
Odewale, who has been convicted of dishonesty offences between 1998 and 2016, typically targeted people living in wealthy areas, researching their details through public records and fraudulently applying for credit cards in their names, which he used to withdraw cash.
The NCA said that he even impersonated some of his victims in phone calls to their banks, ordered and intercepted replacement debit cards, which he then used to purchase high-value items such as watches.
Then they sold these items with the proceeds being laundered through bank accounts belonging to Odewale and Yadav.
Their bank accounts had transactions worth thousands of pounds every year. But Odewale had no legitimate employment earnings since his release from prison in 2005, and Yadav’s salary as an operations manager at Imperial College was far too low, said NCA investigators.
They also bought properties in London and Liverpool. The couple sent their three children to a private school which costs £37,000 per year, besides enjoying frequent luxury holidays in India, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, Cape Verde and Turkey.
Even when Odewale fled the UK in 2016, the couple continued to enjoy an extravagant lifestyle. The rent on Yadav's London home alone is nearly £42,000 per year – more than her annual income. In the last three years, they owned expensive cars including a Porsche Carrera, two Mercedes, and Yadav currently drives an Audi RS4 which when new is worth around £60,000.
Odewale gave evidence to the high court via video from Nigeria, as he is subject to a deportation order and cannot return to the UK.
