A Haringey Council worker who siphoned nearly half a million pound intended for adult care services has been convicted for fraud.
Ceyda Elkatme was a contracted finance officer for the council when she made payments into the bank accounts of accomplices. After taking a cut for themselves, they forwarded the money into accounts belonging to Elkatme and her husband.
The fraud took place in Haringey Council’s Adult Services Payments team, which makes payments to people who provide care services for vulnerable adults in Haringey.
The 66 fraudulent payments to seven accomplices were worth more than £466,000.
Amanda Dellar, Haringey’s borough commander, said: “This was a despicable crime where Elkatme abused her position as a finance officer to defraud Haringey Council out of well over £450,000 of what was effectively public money.
“Working with her husband and accomplices, they set out to launder hundreds of thousands of pounds between them – money which should have been paid to people providing essential care services for vulnerable adults in the borough.”
Haringey Council leader Claire Kober said Elkatme show “complete disregard” for the people of Haringey.
She added: “We will not tolerate those who seek to defraud local taxpayers to fund their own lavish lifestyles and will always take action and work with the police to investigate and prosecute wherever we discover evidence of wrongdoing.”
Two women – Tijen Kaçakoğlu, 35, and 33-year-old Ayja Saykın-Bezci – pleaded guilty to money laundering along with two men, Nicos Kolas (33) and Elkatme’s husband Jihat (34).
