0:00:02 > 0:00:08This programme tracks down thieves, it exposes fraudsters and brings help to those who deserve it.
0:00:08 > 0:00:14This is the front line in the battle against benefit fraud. This is Saints & Scroungers.
0:00:36 > 0:00:42Saints & Scroungers is all about busting benefit thieves who steal millions every year
0:00:42 > 0:00:47and the crack team of investigators determined to scupper their scams.
0:00:47 > 0:00:52We also shine a light on those who genuinely need the money and the people who help them.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55They are our saints.
0:00:55 > 0:00:59The saints get help and the fraudsters get their comeuppance.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01Coming up on today's show:
0:01:01 > 0:01:08how an unscrupulous gang used women and children to steal over £3 million in false benefit claims.
0:01:10 > 0:01:15Virokaitis had £8,000 in cash on him and Mantis Puras had six.
0:01:15 > 0:01:20And a teenager who had to face the worst challenge of her young life.
0:01:20 > 0:01:24When I had my chemo I was really nervous and scared and thought it was going to be awful.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27and make me feel quite rough.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30Really strong, powerful, horrible stuff, it makes you very, very sick.
0:01:35 > 0:01:40Kids. They are our future, but they also cost you a fortune,
0:01:40 > 0:01:46which is why in this country you get Child Benefit to help pay for the little darlings,
0:01:46 > 0:01:51but if your household income is less than 40 grand a year, you can also get Child Tax Credits.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54For some families, that's a godsend.
0:01:54 > 0:02:01That's why it's particularly galling when someone deliberately sets out to take advantage of our generosity
0:02:01 > 0:02:04to rip off the system.
0:02:04 > 0:02:10Meet Ricardas Virokaitis, his wife Jelena and his mate, Mantis Puras.
0:02:11 > 0:02:16They came to the UK from Lithuania when their country joined the European Union
0:02:16 > 0:02:19and set up home in Eltham, south-east London.
0:02:19 > 0:02:25I'd like to tell you that Ricardas got himself a job and supported his family and tried hard to make a go
0:02:25 > 0:02:30of his new life in this country, but sadly that isn't the case.
0:02:30 > 0:02:38A tip off to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs from the Lithuanian authorities placed Ricardas
0:02:38 > 0:02:44and his gang under suspicion of operating a multi-million-pound benefit scam.
0:02:45 > 0:02:51The Lithuanian authorities passed on information that suggested a Lithuanian woman with two children
0:02:51 > 0:02:58had been persuaded to come over to England. Once here, Virokaitis got her to hand over her ID papers
0:02:58 > 0:03:03so they could be used in an ongoing Child Tax Credit benefit fraud.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09Fraud investigator Duncan McCallum picked up the trail.
0:03:11 > 0:03:17She told them that the documents she had given to some men who had taken her to the UK
0:03:17 > 0:03:24with a view to claiming benefits in the UK and that the documents were never returned to her.
0:03:25 > 0:03:31HM Revenue and Customs very quickly discovered that there were a number of claimants, all female,
0:03:31 > 0:03:36using their Lithuanian ID documents to make suspected fraudulent claims
0:03:36 > 0:03:38for Child Tax Credits in the UK.
0:03:38 > 0:03:44Virokaitis, his wife Jelena and co-conspirator Mantis Puras
0:03:44 > 0:03:48were alleged to be manipulating these women with children
0:03:48 > 0:03:51to create a network of false claims,
0:03:51 > 0:03:56helping them to establish work and addresses to validate their presence in the UK.
0:03:56 > 0:04:03The main undercover investigator working with Duncan was keen to pursue all leads they'd been given.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07Due to the nature of her work, she needs to remain anonymous.
0:04:07 > 0:04:12We were given the nine names of Lithuanian ladies and children.
0:04:12 > 0:04:16We linked them to certain addresses in south-east London.
0:04:16 > 0:04:22Those addresses had other claimants there, other female claimants, with numerous children.
0:04:22 > 0:04:28There were things that just didn't add up. You would never find, let's say,
0:04:28 > 0:04:3420 ladies living at a particular address, two up, two down premises. It wasn't possible.
0:04:34 > 0:04:38In a very short period of time, we found 58.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41Then it mushroomed to in excess of 100.
0:04:41 > 0:04:46We knew at that stage that we were looking at a growing fraud.
0:04:47 > 0:04:53The bare-faced cheek of it. This is money for parents to help bring up their children.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56Money that you and me have paid for in our taxes.
0:04:56 > 0:05:02The more the investigators started to dig, the more the claims from these Lithuanian women
0:05:02 > 0:05:05and their kids seemed bogus.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08They began to see patterns
0:05:08 > 0:05:13whereby they were all employed by the same cleaning company,
0:05:13 > 0:05:15the same demolition company.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18The addresses that were being used
0:05:18 > 0:05:21for the demolition company on one claimant
0:05:21 > 0:05:25was the residential address of another female claimant.
0:05:25 > 0:05:32The claims were all for women making both working and child tax claims for three children.
0:05:32 > 0:05:36The investigators followed the Child Tax Credit payments,
0:05:36 > 0:05:40which at their peak were being paid to over 100 women.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43The trail led to accounts in Post Offices and banks.
0:05:43 > 0:05:49It became apparent that the bank accounts were set up
0:05:49 > 0:05:52purely to facilitate this fraud.
0:05:52 > 0:05:56If you look at my bank account, my life is on there.
0:05:56 > 0:06:03On these bank statements, there was nothing on there other than Revenue and Customs paying money in
0:06:03 > 0:06:07and money being withdrawn out from PTM machines.
0:06:07 > 0:06:13Hang on a minute. How could Virokaitis and his gang get away with this scam?
0:06:14 > 0:06:19'I needed to find out, so I went to meet Clare Merrills
0:06:19 > 0:06:22'for some much-needed clarification.'
0:06:25 > 0:06:28Can people literally just come into this country
0:06:28 > 0:06:33- from anywhere within the EU and start claiming credits and benefits from day one?- It depends
0:06:33 > 0:06:39on their particular circumstances. If they're coming in to this country, they've got a job,
0:06:39 > 0:06:43this is going to be their home from now on, and they can prove that,
0:06:43 > 0:06:49that they're making their contribution to our economy, then, yes, they would be entitled.
0:06:49 > 0:06:57But if they're not coming in with a job and they're just popping in to visit, they're not entitled.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00I could go live somewhere in the EU and do the same thing.
0:07:00 > 0:07:05Yes, you could. If you went to live in France then you could do that and you'd be entitled.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09If you were resident there, that was your home
0:07:09 > 0:07:16and you were only coming home to visit here every now and again, you'd be entitled to their benefits.
0:07:16 > 0:07:21Fair enough. So were these women actually living in the UK at all?
0:07:21 > 0:07:27We knew very, very early on that they were not residents here.
0:07:27 > 0:07:33They had their flights paid for, they'd had their accommodation paid for.
0:07:33 > 0:07:38They'd bring them here for a week, maximum, to open the bank accounts,
0:07:38 > 0:07:42and then to front the interviews.
0:07:42 > 0:07:48'There was something still nagging at me. Why had Virokaitis targeted these women?'
0:07:48 > 0:07:55He brought in women with children. Why? Why just bring in that?
0:07:55 > 0:08:01He was preferring to bring in women with children as they could prove they had children.
0:08:01 > 0:08:05- That can increase your claim. - So this was very well thought out.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09- And it's big.- It's big. This is serious organised criminality.
0:08:09 > 0:08:14It's not just one person trying to increase their individual claim.
0:08:14 > 0:08:16This is organised criminality on a huge scale.
0:08:20 > 0:08:26This was an organised racket. The gang picked on the poorest women with the most children
0:08:26 > 0:08:30and paid them what was a small fortune in Lithuania,
0:08:30 > 0:08:33but only a fraction of what they were raking in.
0:08:33 > 0:08:37But surely these women wouldn't be familiar enough
0:08:37 > 0:08:39with our benefits system
0:08:39 > 0:08:43to help Virokaitis maintain such a complicated scam.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47In order for the fraud to be fronted extremely well,
0:08:47 > 0:08:54the women had to have someone who knew the system and who was fluent in English.
0:08:54 > 0:08:58Jelena Virokaitien was one of these individuals
0:08:58 > 0:09:01who would accompany the women.
0:09:01 > 0:09:06She acted as an interpreter and a confidante in some respects.
0:09:06 > 0:09:10She was there to assist them in their needs.
0:09:10 > 0:09:16So while Virokaitis is managing the money through banks and Post Offices, his wife is going along
0:09:16 > 0:09:23and vouching for the women to make sure they get their benefits. Who foots the bill? The taxpayer.
0:09:23 > 0:09:28Ah, this complex fraud is beginning to become clear,
0:09:28 > 0:09:35but if the women were here for such a short period of time, how could the deception carry on?
0:09:36 > 0:09:41One of her key roles was that after the women had long gone,
0:09:41 > 0:09:46these applications had to be renewed. Virokaitien's role was
0:09:46 > 0:09:49to pretend that she was those women.
0:09:49 > 0:09:56So using what they knew of the Lithuanian women from their time here and the info from their papers,
0:09:56 > 0:10:01which they had kept, Virokaitis's wife Jelena was able to take on
0:10:01 > 0:10:04these identities and continue the fraud.
0:10:04 > 0:10:09So how much money did these devious criminals have access to?
0:10:10 > 0:10:18They would take home between £300 and £600 every fortnight quite easily. That was being withdrawn,
0:10:18 > 0:10:20per person, per claimant.
0:10:23 > 0:10:27And if you multiply that by over 100 false claimants at the peak of this scam,
0:10:27 > 0:10:31it quickly turns into a staggering amount of money.
0:10:31 > 0:10:35Over £3 million. Unbelievable.
0:10:37 > 0:10:44For the fraud investigators, the pieces were gradually coming together in this complex crime
0:10:44 > 0:10:50but the team were under extra pressure to prove it in double quick time.
0:10:50 > 0:10:56Because Revenue and Customs were paying out thousands of pounds every week, we were given
0:10:56 > 0:11:00a very, very short timeframe in which to bring this job home.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02That was our biggest challenge.
0:11:02 > 0:11:08It's a tough case to crack and they soon discovered what a full-time job the scam was
0:11:08 > 0:11:11for Virokaitis and his gang.
0:11:11 > 0:11:16He would move through every ATM
0:11:16 > 0:11:20until he was satisfied that he'd withdrawn all the money.
0:11:26 > 0:11:30Next, it's farewell to the scroungers and hello to the saints,
0:11:30 > 0:11:35innocent men and women all over the UK in dire need of government help.
0:11:35 > 0:11:39And the people who show them the way to claim what they deserve.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46When you're young, it's easy to think you're invincible.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49What if the worst happened and you were faced with critical illness?
0:11:49 > 0:11:51Who could you turn to to make like easier?
0:11:53 > 0:11:5816-year-old Charlotte was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumour.
0:11:58 > 0:12:04Although she made it through the surgery needed to remove it, her battle was far from over.
0:12:04 > 0:12:08I had to start a course of radiotherapy which lasted six weeks.
0:12:08 > 0:12:10So it was really intense.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13To add to their burden, the family had to travel three hours a day
0:12:13 > 0:12:16to and from the hospital, which took its toll,
0:12:16 > 0:12:20and they were desperate to find a way to stay nearby.
0:12:20 > 0:12:26Hotels and B&Bs were very expensive and it seemed they had nowhere to turn,
0:12:26 > 0:12:33until their very own saint, Karen Ruck, from cancer charity CLIC Sargent, walked
0:12:33 > 0:12:35into their lives.
0:12:35 > 0:12:40I'm CLIC Sargent Social Work Team Leader at the children's hospital in Oxford,
0:12:40 > 0:12:46and we have a team of social workers. We offer support to families when a child has cancer.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49We offer emotional, practical and financial support.
0:12:49 > 0:12:56Karen was able to offer Charlotte and her family the very thing they never thought possible -
0:12:56 > 0:12:58a home from home.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02CLIC Sargent have a number of home from homes near principal treatment centres.
0:13:02 > 0:13:04We have one here in Oxford.
0:13:04 > 0:13:08So to get away from the hospital and come down to CLIC Court,
0:13:08 > 0:13:14sit in a lounge, make a cup of tea, make dinner, just gives a sense of some normality to families, really.
0:13:14 > 0:13:18And this normality came as an astonishing gift.
0:13:18 > 0:13:24CLIC Court's free to use, so for families who don't live near the treatment centre,
0:13:24 > 0:13:30when they come for radiotherapy which can take six weeks, they can stay here and not have to travel.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33There's no charge to them to use it.
0:13:33 > 0:13:37It was a complete lifesaver to be offered CLIC Court.
0:13:37 > 0:13:43It meant that we drove up on a Monday morning, stayed until Friday afternoon.
0:13:43 > 0:13:48The whole house just feels so homely and it's just a lifesaver.
0:13:48 > 0:13:54- We wouldn't have managed without it. - Having the home from home was amazing.
0:13:54 > 0:13:59It sort of made you forget for a while that you were poorly.
0:13:59 > 0:14:06It was just like a house and you could do what you want and chat to others. Yeah, it was good.
0:14:07 > 0:14:11But Charlotte's treatment was hard going.
0:14:11 > 0:14:16Radiotherapy was very tough. The first week was very difficult.
0:14:16 > 0:14:23Quite traumatic. Charlotte literally was bolted, near enough, face down into a mask.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27For an hour. And she wasn't allowed to move,
0:14:27 > 0:14:33she couldn't talk, and while the radiotherapy is being administered you can't stay in the room
0:14:33 > 0:14:38so the only way I could see her was on a television screen.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42And it was awful. I know she was just laying there crying.
0:14:42 > 0:14:48As a mum, that's just awful that you can't be with your child when they're so upset.
0:14:48 > 0:14:53When I had my radiotherapy treatment it made me feel really sick.
0:14:53 > 0:14:58I also lost my hair, which was quite a shock, actually.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01But Charlotte managed to turn even this into a positive.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04Charlotte's amazing. She's incredibly stoical.
0:15:04 > 0:15:08When her hair was coming out in big clumps,
0:15:08 > 0:15:13she put it out for the birds so they could make a warm nest.
0:15:13 > 0:15:17Karen was on hand to help the family in any way she could.
0:15:17 > 0:15:23That included guiding them through applying for any benefits they may now be entitled to
0:15:23 > 0:15:29to help with Charlotte's difficulty walking and her double vision since the operation.
0:15:29 > 0:15:35It hadn't even occurred to us that we would be entitled to any sort of benefits,
0:15:35 > 0:15:40but Karen assured us that we would now be entitled to it. Charlotte does have...
0:15:40 > 0:15:45disabilities now to a degree, especially mobility disabilities.
0:15:45 > 0:15:50So Karen helped us, which is great. I wouldn't know where to start.
0:15:50 > 0:15:54Charlotte was awarded a Disability Living Allowance which has proved
0:15:54 > 0:15:58a real financial boost at the family's time of need.
0:15:58 > 0:16:05Although we have CLIC Court to go to, we still have lots of journeys back and forwards to Oxford
0:16:05 > 0:16:10and our general hospital if Charlotte has blood transfusions.
0:16:10 > 0:16:16So a lot of money has gone on petrol and just things like heating. Charlotte really feels the cold.
0:16:16 > 0:16:23Things like that. It's just gone to help generally in a big pot of expenses we didn't have before.
0:16:23 > 0:16:28Getting through the radiotherapy was still only half the battle.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31Charlotte then had to pluck up her courage once again,
0:16:31 > 0:16:36and her remaining strength to face a year of punishing chemotherapy.
0:16:36 > 0:16:40When I had my chemo, I was really nervous and really scared
0:16:40 > 0:16:43and thought it would be awful and make me feel quite rough.
0:16:43 > 0:16:51Really strong, powerful, horrible stuff. It makes you very sick and very tired. Very draining.
0:16:51 > 0:16:57And once again the family's saint was on hand to ease this next challenge.
0:16:59 > 0:17:05Chemotherapy meant further stays in hospital and again they were able to use CLIC Court.
0:17:05 > 0:17:09The family could come and stay while Charlotte was having her treatment.
0:17:09 > 0:17:14Finally, after two years of living through what no teenager should have to suffer,
0:17:14 > 0:17:18Charlotte completed her chemotherapy course.
0:17:18 > 0:17:24The doctors when they gave me my last dose of chemo were over the moon that I'd done the course
0:17:24 > 0:17:27of chemo and radiotherapy and got through it.
0:17:27 > 0:17:33- And the best news of all? - At this moment in time, I am in remission
0:17:33 > 0:17:41as I had my last MRI a few weeks ago and everything was clear. There was no cancer in my body at all.
0:17:41 > 0:17:45And the doctors and nurses were all really pleased.
0:17:45 > 0:17:50To be told that your child has suddenly got their life back again
0:17:50 > 0:17:55and, you know, at certain stages it was really in the balance.
0:17:55 > 0:18:02So to say it's the best news in the world is just a complete understatement, really.
0:18:02 > 0:18:04I couldn't be prouder of Charlotte.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07Everything she's been through...
0:18:08 > 0:18:13not once has she ever said, "Why me?" Never.
0:18:13 > 0:18:19And, em...yeah. So I'm as proud as anybody could possibly be.
0:18:19 > 0:18:23I'm blessed. A fantastic daughter.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25She's brilliant.
0:18:25 > 0:18:31Although Charlotte still has to have some physio and an operation to help her double vision,
0:18:31 > 0:18:34she is looking forward to a bright future and she's picked up
0:18:34 > 0:18:38the one thing she thought she'd never do again.
0:18:40 > 0:18:44Being back out on the horse is lovely. Feels like I'm getting part of my old life back.
0:18:49 > 0:18:51Back in the world of the scroungers,
0:18:51 > 0:18:54the criminal gang led by Ricardas Virokaitis
0:18:54 > 0:18:59were being hotly pursued by HM Revenue and Customs.
0:18:59 > 0:19:03They had uncovered a sickening trail of fraud, with origins in Europe,
0:19:03 > 0:19:07that was costing the British taxpayer millions of pounds.
0:19:07 > 0:19:14They targeted poor families in Lithuania and brought women to the UK for the sole purpose
0:19:14 > 0:19:20of registering for National Insurance numbers, opening bank accounts and setting up documents
0:19:20 > 0:19:23to show what was false employment.
0:19:23 > 0:19:28The women were then taken back to Lithuania where they were paid an amount of money
0:19:28 > 0:19:34for their children's identity documents. Those were then used
0:19:34 > 0:19:37to fraudulently claim Child Tax Credits.
0:19:37 > 0:19:44It was time for HM Revenue and Customs to step up the investigation and put the gang under surveillance.
0:19:44 > 0:19:50They wanted to secure the incriminating footage they needed to put a stop to this.
0:19:51 > 0:19:57They homed in on bank ATMs and Post Offices in the Woolwich area in south-east London
0:19:57 > 0:20:04where Virokaitis, his wife Jelena and the third member of the gang, Mantis Puras, operated.
0:20:04 > 0:20:09It wasn't long before their efforts were rewarded at one Post Office.
0:20:09 > 0:20:14We realised that there was a man coming in on a regular basis.
0:20:15 > 0:20:17His behaviour was very peculiar.
0:20:20 > 0:20:26Before approaching the desk, he would make reference to a mobile phone
0:20:26 > 0:20:29and then he would remove a number of bank cards.
0:20:29 > 0:20:34You'd see him inserting those bank cards into the chip and pin
0:20:34 > 0:20:35at the counter.
0:20:35 > 0:20:40Sounds to me like he was checking those PIN numbers.
0:20:40 > 0:20:45With so much money to steal, he'd want to make sure he'd got it right.
0:20:45 > 0:20:49The surveillance footage continued to come up trumps.
0:20:49 > 0:20:53After researching the CCTV, it led us to a vehicle.
0:20:54 > 0:20:58A car that helpfully led the team to a house which was then watched
0:20:58 > 0:21:02in order to monitor just what this criminal got up to.
0:21:04 > 0:21:09Every two weeks, he would jump in his car, go to a Post Office,
0:21:09 > 0:21:15on occasions it would be up to £600 for each card he'd insert
0:21:15 > 0:21:18and on one occasion on one day
0:21:18 > 0:21:22he would visit up to seven Post Offices.
0:21:22 > 0:21:28So hundreds of pounds being withdrawn from multiple Post Offices is thousands of pounds.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32Clearly, this gang had got to be stopped and quickly.
0:21:32 > 0:21:39But first things first. The team needed to find out just who this second gang member was.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44We identified him as Mantis Puras,
0:21:44 > 0:21:49who had a pretty key role in the fraud.
0:21:49 > 0:21:53He was instrumental in recruiting some of these women
0:21:53 > 0:21:57and he accompanied a number of them to the DWP offices.
0:21:57 > 0:22:03It wasn't just Post Offices under surveillance. Bank ATMs were also under close scrutiny.
0:22:03 > 0:22:08There were particular days every two to three weeks
0:22:08 > 0:22:12when Virokaitis would make the withdrawal from the bank.
0:22:12 > 0:22:14And at particular times
0:22:14 > 0:22:22he would approach a particular bank and then move through every ATM
0:22:22 > 0:22:26until he was satisfied that he'd withdrawn all the money.
0:22:26 > 0:22:32Little did this benefit thief know that the fraud team were hot on his trail.
0:22:32 > 0:22:38Intelligence indicated that Virokaitis was due to fly out to Lithuania.
0:22:38 > 0:22:44We suspected he would be carrying a considerable amount of cash.
0:22:44 > 0:22:50We mounted surveillance on him at the airport where he associated with Mantis Puras.
0:22:50 > 0:22:55It was time to close these criminals down.
0:22:55 > 0:23:01Both Mantis Puras and Ricardas Virokaitis were arrested and searched.
0:23:01 > 0:23:07Virokaitis had £8,000 in cash on him and Mantis Puras had six.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10Caught red-handed.
0:23:10 > 0:23:16At the time of Virokaitis's arrest, we believed there was evidence in this safe house behind me.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19Very quickly, officers were here
0:23:19 > 0:23:25and we searched and found, in an under-the-floorboard concealment,
0:23:25 > 0:23:31a number of bank cards and other paraphernalia that were used to perpetrate this fraud.
0:23:31 > 0:23:35But this wasn't the only property this gang had been using.
0:23:35 > 0:23:41In fact, it was just one of 23 houses they had used for carrying out their devious fraud,
0:23:41 > 0:23:45from housing fake companies to addresses for correspondence,
0:23:45 > 0:23:52all to create a maze of misinformation to try and hide the shocking scale of the fraud -
0:23:52 > 0:23:54over £3 million.
0:23:54 > 0:23:59What would the leader of this organised crime racket have to say for himself?
0:23:59 > 0:24:02From the moment he was arrested,
0:24:02 > 0:24:08Virokaitis admitted his guilt. His frame of mind clearly showed
0:24:08 > 0:24:12that he believed that sooner or later he would be found out
0:24:12 > 0:24:15and he was prepared to take the consequences.
0:24:15 > 0:24:21- What about his accomplice, Mantis Puras?- He denied any knowledge of the fraud.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24He denied any involvement in it.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26He stated he hadn't visited Post Offices,
0:24:26 > 0:24:29he had nothing to do with any claimants
0:24:29 > 0:24:31and the money he had on his person
0:24:31 > 0:24:36that he was travelling out with was purely for dental work.
0:24:36 > 0:24:42He said he had dental treatment arranged in Lithuania. All of this was not true.
0:24:42 > 0:24:47For someone who was looking at a custodial sentence,
0:24:47 > 0:24:52he appeared not to have a care in the world, often laughing and joking.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55I suspect he's not laughing now.
0:24:55 > 0:25:02And what about the third member of the gang, Virokaitis's wife Jelena? What did she have to say?
0:25:02 > 0:25:07She was initially defiant. She refused to answer questions in interview.
0:25:07 > 0:25:13A solicitor made a statement on her behalf stating that she was not involved in any criminality.
0:25:13 > 0:25:15But the investigators knew better.
0:25:15 > 0:25:19As time went on, it became clear to her
0:25:19 > 0:25:22that there was a lot of evidence.
0:25:22 > 0:25:28Both Puras and Virokaitien pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.
0:25:28 > 0:25:34Although this was a great achievement for the investigating team, it was bittersweet.
0:25:34 > 0:25:40I have to say it is now just not feasible to recover all of the money that was defrauded,
0:25:40 > 0:25:47but as we identify assets, as we identify cash that is clearly the proceeds of this fraud,
0:25:47 > 0:25:52those assets will be confiscated and they will be seized.
0:25:52 > 0:25:57At the time of his arrest, Ricardas Virokaitis was a home owner.
0:25:57 > 0:26:01He no longer owns a home, he no longer owns a car,
0:26:01 > 0:26:04he no longer has money in the bank.
0:26:04 > 0:26:09It was time for Virokaitis, Jelena and Mantis Puras to have their day in court.
0:26:12 > 0:26:17Ricardas Virokaitis pleaded guilty to conspiracy to cheat the public purse.
0:26:17 > 0:26:21He was sentenced to five years in prison.
0:26:21 > 0:26:26Jelena was sentenced to two years and Mantis Puras got three years behind bars.
0:26:26 > 0:26:30All three were sent straight to jail.
0:26:30 > 0:26:36This was a thoroughly investigated case that resulted in three guilty pleas.
0:26:36 > 0:26:42Revenue and Customs will pursue those who defraud tax credit
0:26:42 > 0:26:46payments and we will bring them to justice.
0:26:46 > 0:26:52'A job well done. Fraudsters take note - the system has now been tightened up
0:26:52 > 0:26:58'to stop gangs like Virokaitis and his cronies from ever milking it again.'
0:27:12 > 0:27:16Subtitles by Subtext for Red Bee Media Ltd - 2012