Mother of Seven will appear at magistrates court on Thursday
Toorpakai Saiedi, 37, the mother of seven who made national headlines nearly two years ago after it was revealed Ealing Council paid her rent of £12,500 per month has been charged with benefit fraud.
Originally from Afghanistan, Saiedi is accused of obtaining thousands of pounds in housing benefit and council tax fraud to which she was not entitled.
Mrs Saiedi claimed asylum after coming to Britain in 2001 with her children, a year after her husband Haji Rahmat Shah Saiedi, 47, had arrived in London.
In October 2008, it was disclosed that she was living in a seven-bedroom house worth £1.2m in Acton, West London, where she now still resides. Ealing Council sacked three of its housing officers over the case.
At the time it was reported that she was receiving £170,000 a year in benefits, including £150,000 paid to a private landlord for the rent of the property - equivalent to £12,500 a month. The Coalition is overhauling the Local Housing Allowance scheme which will limit the the maximum rent that can be claimed by someone on housing benefit to £400 a week.
An Ealing Council spokesperson confirmed today that Saiedi, of Rosemont Road, Acton, was issued with a summons to appear before Ealing Magistrates Court on Thursday 27 January.
The summons is for three counts of making false representations to Ealing Council with a view to obtaining housing and council tax benefit and o ne count of making false representations to the Department of Work and Pension with a view to obtaining income support.
All counts are contrary to the Social Security Administration Act 1992.
25 January 2011