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A man who pretended to be one of the Grenfell Tower victims has pleaded guilty to fraud, reported the BBC on Tuesday. Sharife Elouahabi claimed that he was living in the building’s 21st floor in apartment 182, which was home to a Moroccan family.
According to British newspaper Metro, pretended to stay at the Elouahabi family whose members died in the blaze on June the 14th, 2017.
After receiving «about £103,476 for accommodation and financial assistance», investigation showed that Sherife Elouahabi was not living in the tower at the time of the fire, says BBC.
The man will be sentenced on November the 20th after he told the Isleworth Crown Court that he lied to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea about his address to be assisted as one of the Grenfell victims.
Staying at apartment 182, the Elouahabi family's house
Indeed, Sharife Elouahabi was granted money by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the period between the 23 June 2017 and 25 June 2018 and he was «due to receive further resettlement payments worth £14,730 to go towards a flat and free utilities, when the fraud was discovered», says the same source.
Sharife Elouahabi./Ph. Metropolitan Police
«Elouahabi shamelessly took advantage of the efforts to re-house people whose homes had been destroyed by claiming his link to one of the flats, and he was subsequently put in hotel accommodation», Ben Rouse, of the Metropolitan Police told the BBC.
On the other hand, Graeme Wilson, Elouahabi’s lawyer, told reporters that the accused stayed «in flat 182 on a couple of occasions as he knew one of the residents», adds the same source.
Giving more details, Wilson said, as reported by Metro, that Elouahabi spent a couple of days at the apartment, housing the Moroccan family, in the period between January to March 2017, at a moment when he was staying temporarily with various friends and relatives while attempting to find permanent accommodation.
For the record, 7 Moroccan nations died in the Grenfell fire which killed 71 people in general. According to the Guardian, most of the deceased Moroccans are from Larache, a harbor town in the region of Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima.
In previous articles, Yabiladi reported the stories of the Moroccan families that lost their lives in the deadly blaze last June, including Nur Huda Elouahabi, a 15-year-old student, who used to live in the 21st floor of the Grenfell Tower, alongside her father Abdul Aziz (52), mother Fouzia (42), brother Mehdi (8) and Yasin (21).
