Councillor convicted of benefit fraud
A former district councillor has been convicted of falsely claiming more than £6,000 in housing and council tax benefit while serving on his local authority.
Last Tuesday, Stefan Balbuza, 42, from Stowe, was sentenced to 100 hours of community service and ordered to pay compensation of £4,875.51 after pleading guilty to four counts of benefit fraud.
He had claimed the two benefits while serving as an elected member for Aylesbury Vale District Council between May 2007 and December 2009. Mr Balbuza had his members’ allowance paid into a bank account which he did not declare when applying for the benefits.
Aylesbury Crown Court heard that he had also failed to declare that he was working at a solicitor’s firm in July 2007.
Neil Blake, cabinet member for resources, said: ‘The fact that Mr Balbuza was a district councillor makes, to my mind, this offence even more distasteful.
‘Elected members have a duty to uphold the high standards expected of them and any breach lets down not only the electorate but also their fellow councillors.’
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Readers' comments (1)
gordon thompson | 09/06/2010 3:27 pm
This is just as bad as the MPs expenses. A complete abuse of trust and position.
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