Investigation: Nigerian-born accountant Samuel Kayode (right), 57, is at the centre of a fraud investigation after £4m of school funds ended up in his personal accounts. Left, his late wife, Grace, whose assets were frozen
A Nigerian-born accountant Samuel Kayode, 57, at the centre of a fraud investigation after £4m of a school fund ended up in his personal accounts.
The vast sum of money is missing from the Haberdashers’ Aske’s Federation Trust in South London.
The 57-year-old part-time pastor was told by the High Court to pay £4.1million back to the Haberdashers’ Aske’s chain of academies more than a year ago.
The school is named after 17th century silk merchant Robert Aske who left much of his wealth to create an educational charity fund run by the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers.
The Haberdashers’ Aske’s public schools for boys and girls in Hertfordshire was founded with his money. Aayode’s assets and those of his wife Grace, who died aged 53 last year, were then frozen.
It appeared that huge sums of school money had been paid into a bank account in Nigeria and a company called Samak, which is said to be run in Nigeria by Kayode’s second wife Yoni, although he denies any wedding has taken place.
The trust launched a High Court case to reclaim the missing cash but the accountant denied wrongdoing and claimed ‘all transactions had been authorised by the finance director’.
However, the judge found in the trust’s favour last July and ordered Kayode and the estate of his late wife to pay back more than £4million plus interest.
Kayode went to work at Hatcham in 1997 and rose to become accounts manager for the whole chain.
He was paid £57,000 a year, and told colleagues of his work as a pastor in the Christ Apostolic Church, South London, peppering his conversations with ‘praise the Lord’.
In October 2012 it emerged that a large sum of money was missing from the academies’ funds.
Kayode’s assets and those of his wife Grace, who died aged 53 last year, were then frozen.
Former Education Secretary: The academies were championed by Michael Gove (pictured)
Former Education Secretary: The academies were championed by Michael Gove (pictured)
It appeared that huge sums of school money had been paid into a bank account in Nigeria and a company called Samak, which is said to be run in Nigeria by Kayode’s second wife Yoni, although he denies any wedding has taken place.
The trust launched a High Court case to reclaim the missing cash but the accountant denied wrongdoing and claimed ‘all transactions had been authorised by the finance director’.
However, the judge found in the trust’s favour last July and ordered Kayode and the estate of his late wife to pay back more than £4million plus interest.
He remains at large and is not facing any charges, although he is due to speak to detectives again this week.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman would say only that a man from Lambeth was on police bail.
Adrian Percival, chief executive of Haberdashers’ Aske’s Federation Trust, said: ‘The civil case found in favour of the federation and we are trying to recover the money that has been taken from us. We are obviously shocked and saddened.’
But furious parents say Haberdashers’ Aske’s has tried to hush the scandal up.
Jill Rutter, who has several children at the Hatcham academy, said in an online blog: ‘The fraud strikes at the heart of the educational establishment and shows that the current system and the freedom afforded to academies is not working. Ultimately it is our children that suffer.’
Kayode’s boss at Haberdashers’ Aske’s, former chief finance officer Paul Durgan, is now working for a new academies chain.
He said: ‘Sam Kayode completely had me taken, like everybody else. Nobody from the police or school has spoken to me.’
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