First ILA Fraud Case Begins

A woman has appeared in court charged with using bogus students to defraud the Governments Individual Learning Accounts system.

Miss Sylvia Iwuagwu, 25, a Nigerian citizen living in Brentford, appeared before City of London magistrates on Tuesday of this week.

She is charged with defrauding the Department for Education and Skills of £9,600 on or before October 19 and falsely claiming to have put 48 clients through something called the "City Institute".

Full Legal aid was granted and no application for bail was made.

She will appear at Southwark Crown Court on January 16, when she will be invited to enter a plea.

Ms Iwuagwu is the only person known to have been charged with ILA fraud so far but many more cases are under investigation with further charges and prosecutions set to follow.

So far, 39 people have been arrested and seven police forces have been working in conjunction with the DFES to follow up fraud allegations

We will release more information as and when more individual cases appear before court.