A Brazilian fraudster living in Penge who claimed to be a pastor to get tax breaks was sentenced to a suspended custodial sentence and ordered to pay more than £2,000 in costs.

Samuel Veloso, 33, of Malcolm Close, was investigated when an application for a secondary school place was received by Bromley's education department.

He had tried a number of tricks to avoid paying full council tax, including applying for a single-person's discount, which he had been awarded.

His school place application flagged this up and the enquiries revealed that in June 2011, Mr Veloso was found to have submitted a false tenancy agreement in his name only when his wife was also a resident at the property.

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He had also given the council a fake student certificate in 2012 to claim exemption - and he had applied for a religious disregard, claiming to be a pastor at a Baptist church in Harlesden.

He also applied for a single-person discount in April 2013 under the name Elton de Almeida Oliviera.

On February 24, Mr Veloso pleaded not guilty at Bromley Magistrates Court to three charges of making false representations to make a gain for himself totalling £2,637.65.

On May 10, he was found guilty at Bexley Magistrates Court and on May 16, he was sentenced to 17 weeks imprisonment suspended for two years on each count, to run consecutively for a total of 51 weeks.

He was also ordered to complete 300 hours unpaid work and ordered to pay costs of £2,700.00 to Bromley Council at a rate of £350.00 a month after the Council Tax debt is cleared.

As Mr Veloso, a Brazilian citizen, is currently subject to Immigration Control and has no recourse to public funds, the Home Office has been notified of the outcome of this case.

Councillor Neil Reddin Chairman of Bromley’s Audit Committee said: “We welcome the outcome of this successful prosecution and the sentence imposed which shows that cheats who claim allowances that they are not entitled to will be punished.

“Fraud in Bromley is not tolerated as it is a waste of public funds that are meant for those in genuine need.”

Anyone with information about a suspected benefit fraud should contact (in strict confidence) the Fraud Hotline on 0800 169 6975 or email audit@bromley.gov.uk.

You can also download the council's anti-fraud app at www.bromley.gov.uk/fraud.