A a 57-year-old Nigerian accountant who also doubles as a part-time pastor of Christ Apostolic Church, South London, Samuel Kayode is at the centre of a fraud which is being tagged as the largest education fraud in the United Kingdom.
Detectives in the UK believe that he embezzled up to £4million which ended up in his personal accounts.
Daily Mail UK reports that Kayode is said to have spent a lot of the money on an extravagant lifestyle, buying a number of properties.
More than a year ago, Kayode was told by the High Court to pay £4.1million back to the Haberdashers’ Aske‘s chain of academies. But he has not paid it, and it is feared that most of the cash has been transferred to Nigeria.
According to the publication, the case is believed to be Britain’s biggest ever education fraud. And although he was arrested in October 2012, the police is yet to charge him with any crime.
When he was arrested in 2012, his assets and those of his wife Grace (pictured above), who died last year at the age of 53, were frozen. The money is reported to have been paid into a bank account in Nigeria and a company named Samak.
Samak is headed in Nigeria by Kayode’s second wife Yoni, but he denies that any wedding took place.
The Haberdashers’ Aske’s Federation Trust launched a High Court case to reclaim the missing cash, but Kayode claimed “all transactions had been authorised by the finance director”.
The judge however found in the trust’s favour in July 2013 and ordered Kayode and the estate of his late wife to pay back more than £4million with interest.
Kayode remains at large and is not facing any charges, but he is due to speak to detectives this week.