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It was heard that he 'abused' his position at the council

A market manager at a border Essex council has appeared in court after he sent himself over £200,000 of taxpayers' money. Mr Akinremi Akintokunbo pleaded guilty to a single offence of S1 of the Fraud Act 2006 at Barkingside Magistrates Court.

Between March 2, 2024 and December 5, 2024, it was heard that Mr Akintokunbo dishonestly and intending thereby to make a gain for himself or another or to cause loss to another, abused his position as an Assistant Market Manager at the London Borough of Havering.

He did this by making 133 individual refund transactions to himself using a London Borough of Havering chip and pin device totalling £208,700 in breach of S4 of the Fraud Act 2006. This case has now been sent to Snaresbrook Crown Court for sentencing and Proceed of Crime Act Proceedings.

The court has ordered the probation service to undertake a pre-sentence report to assist the crown court in sentencing. A date of hearing hasn’t been given by the court yet and he has been given unconditional bail.

Councillor Sue Benjamins, deputy leader of the council and cabinet member for finance, said: “I want to thank all those involved in this case. It's beggars’ belief that anyone can think they can get away with something like this.

"Particularly in this case that involved such a large sum of taxpayers’ money. It was down to the diligence of our finance team that this crime was spotted and he was quickly dismissed while the investigation took place. We have a zero tolerance policy and we will deploy all necessary resources to protect the Council and public funds from those who would seek to do harm or abuse their positions.”