London:
An Indian-origin man has been caught in a newspaper sting operation that showed him promising to arrange false letters from a college London that could be used to avoid paying mandatory council tax.
Kiran Kumar of a company called UK Study Link in east London provided its investigators signed letters on headed notepaper from two colleges, each falsely stating that a person was enrolled as a student, the Sunday Times today reported.
Students are exempted from paying council tax, which is mandatory for all households in Britain.
The amount payable varies depending on the location and the kind of house one occupies. Councils use the tax to provide various services such as rubbish collection and maintenance. The newspaper said Mr Kumar charged 350 pounds to provide the false letter. He is quoted as saying, "Everyone is doing it all over the country. You save so much money thanks to the letter. I've arranged loads for people and everyone is happy."
Officials believe that council tax fraud costs local authorities an estimated 131 million pounds each year. The report said, "Undercover reporters, alerted to the activities of Mr Kumar, visited his office in East Ham, east London. There, he explained how he could obtain a letter stating that a person was on a college course lasting up to three years".
Mr Kumar is quoted as saying, "Just imagine how much council tax you [could] save in three years. And then after that you can get another letter to say you are now on a different course".
He added in the sting operation that "Normally councils don't even bother to check [the exemption letter] because they don't have the resources, but with my letters, even if they did ring the college, someone would confirm that you are a student there."