Zehra Süleyman
The former chairman of a Turkish Cypriot school in South London has been given a suspended prison sentence for stealing from the school’s funds.
Zara
Zehra Suleyman, 40, was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for a year, after being convicted on two charges of theft from Blackfen Turkish School.
A judge at Inner London Crown Court also ordered her to pay costs of nearly £3,700 following her trial, which revealed she used school funds for bingo and debt management purposes.
Suleyman was chairwoman of the Blackfen Turkish School in Bexley at a time when scores of cash withdrawals and payments were made from the school’s bank account.
A source with knowledge of the school’s finances told Londra Gazete that there had been “over 100” such cash withdrawals and payments.
She resigned in 2013 and the school, which offers weekend classes to Turkish children, has since been renamed the Rauf Denktaş Turkish School.
While she was chairwoman, Zehra Suleyman held one of the school’s two debit cards. She was found guilty of theft after her trial established she used them to make two transactions from the school account: a £1,775 payment to a debt management service and £180 payment to Sun Bingo.
The court ordered her to repay the £180 bingo sum to the school but not the debt management payment, as this was reversed before the trial came to an end. She must also pay £3,500 in prosecution costs.
Suleyman was not found guilty of a third charge of theft. A fourth was dropped by the prosecution.
Zehra Suleyman is now the owner of Zara, a hair and beauty salon in Petts Wood, south London.
A spokesman for the school told the News Shopper newspaper: “We had no choice as we are a charity but to go to the police. We’re not happy that it happened but we are happy that justice has been done.
“She was chairman for a number of years; she stopped being chairman in 2013. We had the new chairperson look at the accounts and there were some discrepancies. As a school and as a committee we were shocked.
“We will not stand for anything of this sort and we have shown how serious we are about anybody doing anything illegal.
“The school was the victim in all this. It’s such a shame that it’s come to this, but we’re glad justice has been served.”