Bulgarian gang behind Britain's biggest ever £53million benefits fraud only have to pay back £2million after hiding cash abroad
Galina Nikolova, Tsvetka Todorova, Gyunesh Ali, Patritsia Paneva and Stoyan Stoyanov were jailed for a total 25 years at Wood Green Crown Court in London in May 2024.
A Bulgarian gang who carried out the UK's largest ever benefits fraud - costing the taxpayer £53million - will only have to pay back £2million, it has been revealed.
Galina Nikolova, Tsvetka Todorova, Gyunesh Ali, Patritsia Paneva and Stoyan Stoyanov were jailed for a total of 25 years at Wood Green Crown Court in north London in May 2024.
Now all of them other than Ali have been freed from prison and are on immigration bail awaiting deportation.
The gang were convicted after exploiting the UK's welfare system to the tune of at least £53million.
They hijacked 6,000 identities to make claims for Universal Credit and even used the names of children living in Bulgaria as part of the five-year scam.
The fraudsters set up three 'benefit factories' across London churning out bogus tenancy agreements, counterfeit payslips and forged letters from landlords, employers and GPs to trick the Department for Work and Pensions.
The group was only uncovered after a Bulgarian police officer notified UK officials about a trend of criminals in the city of Sliven who had come into large sums of cash.
Officials are now said to have recouped about £1million but had tried to get more, with a potential reported seize of just £2million.
Galina Nikolova (above, right) was sent to prison alongside her boyfriend Stoyan Stoyanov (above, left) and three other gang members following their UK benefits fraud
Galina Nikolova (pictured), Tsvetka Todorova, Gyunesh Ali, Patritsia Paneva and Stoyan Stoyanov were jailed for a total of 25 years at Wood Green Crown Court in May 2024
Prosecutor Gareth Munday told a hearing of attempts by the Crown Prosecution Service and the Department for Work and Pensions to recover the money.
He said: 'The criminality that backs this offending was substantial, sustained and business-like fraud committed against the DWP.
'It resulted in a loss to the public purse of many millions of pounds. The Crown has taken every effort to regain as much money as we could.'
Prosecutors wanted to recover about £4million from Nikolova, while saying they could prove she made £2.8million from the scam and had available assets of £942,183.