Housing boss in council flat swindle spared jail

The chairwoman of Lambeth's social housing company escaped being sent to prison despite admitting a £128,000 benefits and right to buy fraud.

A judge gave Asuman Ozkan, 42, suspended sentences saying her three children aged nine to 16 "would suffer greatly" if she was jailed.

Ozkan held the post at the council's housing management company Lambeth Living while fraudulently claiming £90,000 in income support, housing and council tax benefits.

She also lied to get a £38,000 discount to buy a £140,000 council flat under Lambeth council's right to buy scheme with her husband Joel Arizie. Ozkan and Arizie obtained the discount to buy a three-bedroom flat in Kings Avenue, Clapham, after they were removed from the Angell Town estate in Brixton during refurbishment.

They got a joint mortgage to pay for the remaining £102,000. The couple then managed to get a five-bedroom house from Lambeth council on Marcella Road, back in the Angell Town estate, while renting out their Clapham flat. They received £650 a month for rent for a year, which they used to pay for the mortgage.

Ozkan received a 30-week suspended prison sentence for the benefits fraud and 35 weeks suspended for the right to buy fraud, to run concurrently. Recorder Roger Stewart QC said: "The only thing that has really weighed in your favour is the fact that you have three young children who would suffer greatly if you went to prison. You are extremely lucky not to be going to prison right now."

Arizie, 47, who pleaded guilty to the right to buy discount fraud, received a 35-week suspended prison sentence at Inner London crown court yesterday.

Ozkan was forced to resign from her unpaid role as chairwoman of Lambeth Living, which manages 34,000 properties for the council, after a tip off led to her arrest. Ozkan, who is now studying criminology at the Southbank University, had continued to claim the benefits despite getting a job with South Eastern Trains. Her husband, now estranged, was a bus driver.

Her counsel claimed she was suffering from post-natal depression following the birth of each of her children and that she did not remember signing the right to buy discount claim.

Ozkan pleaded guilty last month to 10 counts relating to housing, benefit and council tax fraud. She pleaded guilty to the right to buy fraud and two counts of fraudulent income support claims. Arizie pleaded guilty to two counts relating to the right to buy fraud. Ozkan will have to do 300 hours unpaid work and Arizie 150 hours.

Lambeth Living has been dogged with controversy since it was created in 2006 by the Labour council. Tenants were forced to pay massive rent increases while repairs and maintenance were drastically cut.