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Two former Serco employees plead guilty to £46,000 Boris Bike fraud

Pair made bogus refunds to seven friends who have admitted money laundering; sentencing in May

Two former employees of Serco, the company that operates London’s Barclays Cycle Hire Scheme, have been pleaded guilty of fraud after making bogus refund payments through the scheme totalling £46,000 to friends.

Nana Boateng of Enfield and Jose Dias from Clapton, both aged 26, each admitted on one count of fraud by abuse of position at Southwark Crown Court, reports BBC News. The court was told that the fraud took place between September and December 2010.

Although details of how they misappropriated the money was not reported, the early months of the scheme, launched in July 2010, saw Transport for London (TfL) have to refund may members who had been incorrectly billed.

In the vast majority of cases, those refunds were for fairly small amounts of between £1 and £10, but in September 2010 we reported about one member who was refunded £900 and also given £200 compensation after he was repeatedly charged for non-return of bikes due a fault with docking stations.

Also appearing at Southwark Crown Court was another former Serco employee, Devina Joseph-Albert, aged 22 and from Clapton, pleaded guilty to a charge of money laundering, as did six other defendants at an earlier hearing.

Those are her brother Darnel Joseph Albert, aged 20 and Elizabeth Spencer, aged 36, both also from Clapton, 24-year-old Zakir Bhad from Forest Gate, Samuel Njie, 26, of Leyton, and George Hayden, 30, and Sakinah MacAuley, both of Enfield.

All nine are due to be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on 11 May.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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Bob's Bikes | 12 years ago
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I don't suppose that TfL will get that money back, so therefore the operating costs will have to cover this loss. Which will be a great shame as this scheme is helping in getting people cycling.

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