A City of London housing tenant has been found guilty of benefitfraud after failing to declare to the City of London Corporation"sHousing Benefit section that he had in excess of £100,000 insavings in undeclared bank accounts.

Mr Nelio Cipolla, a City of London tenant for the past 30 years,pleaded guilty at Tower Bridge Magistrates Court on 12 October 2011to six charges of dishonestly making a false representation toobtain benefit between February 2005 and December 2009.

Mr Cipolla was given a 12 week custodial sentence, suspended for12 months and is subject to a 12 month residency order. He was alsoordered to pay prosecution costs of £3,320. The overpaid benefithas been recovered in full by the City of London Corporation fromthe defendant"s bank account.

Benefit fraud is not a victimless crime, as it diverts vitalresources from other needs within the community.

Chris Keesing, Corporate Fraud Investigator for the City ofLondon Corporation, said: "People who commit benefit fraud shouldrealise that they will be caught and, when they are, that they willhave to re-pay the money they fraudulently obtained. They are alsolikely to end up with a hefty fine, having their assets seized and- if prosecuted - a criminal record and potential prisonsentence.""The City of London Corporation uses all available resources todetect fraud and has dedicated staff within its Internal AuditSection constantly working on tackling this deceit; we take thesematters very seriously and will seek to take appropriate actionagainst perpetrators of these offences."