Man jailed over £1m council theft

John Kaduwanema's student visa expired in 2002

A finance manager at Birmingham City Council, who stole nearly £1.2m from the authority, has been jailed for seven-and-a-half years.

John Kaduwanema, 27, authorised electronic transfers of money to his own account to fund a lavish lifestyle.

He had admitted 10 counts of theft and another 14 similar offences were taken into account in sentencing on Friday.

Kaduwanema, of Huntington, Cannock, Staffs, but originally from Uganda, will be deported after being released.

Detectives said they were confident of recouping the vast majority of the money.

Bought five houses

Kaduwanema came to study in Birmingham in 1999 but stayed on in the UK illegally after his study visa expired in 2002, getting a job with the council.

He stole a total of £1,171,846 working in the social care and health department of the council where he was responsible for authorising transfers of payments to creditors.

The theft was only discovered when he paid £285,000 to his mother, recording it in the books as a VAT payment.

Between March 2004 and February 2006 he bought five houses and a Jaguar XJS and paid for his university fees, the court heard.

He had houses in Brierley Hill, in Dudley, Cannock and Liverpool and was on the verge of buying two £500,000 properties in Kinver, Staffordshire, and in Birmingham, the court was told.

'Procedures tightened'

Robert Cowley, defending, said: "When he found he could get away with it the temptation took over and, I accept, he became greedy."

Recorder Alan Parker said: "The money you stole comes from the payments of modest, modestly paid, honest people who discharge their council tax and income tax."

Peter Hay, director of social services, said: "At the time what was done was absolutely in accordance with the law and council procedures, clearly it wasn't tight enough.

"We tightened those procedures immediately, there should be none of that occurring today."

Det Insp Simon Wallis said: "He obviously covered his tracks very well at the council but once he was caught he volunteered where a lot of the money had gone.

"We will be presenting a case to the court in the near future which will hopefully see the recovery of the vast amount of the money."