Romanian man who posed as a Gypsy built mansion on taxpayers’ money

Illie Schian, a 47-year-old Romanian immigrant who sought asylum in the UK in 1999, has been prosecuted for benefit fraud which amounted to approximately 113,000 pounds.

The Express has reported that Schian built up a fortune for himself by falsely claiming Jobseekers Allowance, child tax credits and housing benefits. His actions have outraged public spending campaigners. Schian built himself a 9 bedroom mansion, with floor to ceiling marble in Romania, on land bought with British taxpayers’ money.

Emma Boon of the Taxpayers Alliance said that the case highlighted the need for the government to do something about Britain’s soaring benefits bill. She said that: “Millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money is continuing to fall into the wrong hands and this case shows how badly our welfare system needs to be reformed”.

In response to these concerns, Minister for Welfare Reform, Lord Freud, said that: “Benefit thieves are costing the taxpayer almost 1 billion pounds a year”.

Schian is also suspected of involvement in a people smuggling ring that sent around 180 children to Britain to beg and steal. Investigators found that he had amassed 20,000 pounds in a bank account in Romania before he was finally stopped.

Schian, from Hornsey, North London, applied for political asylum under the name of Gheorghe, when he arrived in the UK in 1999. He claimed he had been persecuted in Romania because he was a gypsy and was subsequently granted indefinite leave to remain.

Chief Inspector Colin Carswell said that, “Schian portrayed the image of being poor and in need of money from UK benefits. Our Romanian colleagues alongside my team proved this to be a lie. Schian now needs to answer the charges, laid against him in Romania, that he and others are responsible for trafficking 181 children to the UK”.

Inspector Carswell said that Schian was part of the same group that was involved in the case of Livinia Olmazu, a Roma rights activist jailed earlier this month for her part in a multi-million pound benefits scam.

Schian was jailed for 3 years after admitting to fraud charges at Southwark Crown Court. Justice James Wadsworth said: “You did your utmost to defraud the public. You did it in a determined and skilful manner and I have been shown photographs of how your family appears to be very prosperous”.

Prosecuting, Martin Whitehouse said: “The defendant came to the country intending to defraud the benefits system and, as soon as he could, he did. This was a shameless act ”.