LONDON: An academic formerly at Cambridge University in the UK has been forced to repay over $1.25 million (£1 million) of stolen government grant money.
Ehsan Abdi-Jalebi, 42, an expert in renewable energy, took more than £2 million in total, transferring money to his personal bank accounts to spend on property and a luxury Maserati sports car.
The money was granted after Abdi-Jalebi, formerly of Churchill College, Cambridge, set up a wind turbine company called Wind Technologies in 2006, which received a combined £1.3 million from the UK government and the EU.
Three other companies with links to Wind Technologies applied for another £1.5 million in grants.
Abdi-Jalebi used forgery and misrepresentation on documents including grant applications and bank statements to justify and secure the funds, as well as using the bank accounts of doctoral students working at Wind Technologies to steal student support payments.
Some of the money was then smuggled to Iran, where authorities say much of it was used to buy property.
The academic was caught trying to take £137,000 out of the UK to Iran by security officials at Heathrow Airport in September 2015.
He was subsequently stopped trying to leave the country three months later by UK Border Force officers, and was found to be carrying another £100,000 hidden inside empty chocolate boxes.
In May 2016, Abdi-Jalebi was again stopped and searched as he tried to fly to Iran, and was found with £16,000 in cash.
In its investigations, the UK’s National Crime Agency found that he had received around £2.5 million in grants, and that only a fraction had been used for actual research. He had withdrawn over £820,000 in cash in under four years.
Abdi-Jalebi admitted to 13 counts of forgery in December 2018 and was sentenced to four years in prison by a court in London, reduced from the standard seven-year sentence conditional on his repaying £1,055,977.78 of identified stolen cash.
Rob Burgess, head of asset denial at the NCA, told The Times: “This is a hugely significant result and demonstrates the agency’s ability to recover criminal assets even under challenging circumstances, such as where they are held abroad.
“We have demonstrated our drive and ability to pursue continuous enforcement activity against those subject to confiscation orders to ensure they do not retain the proceeds of their crime.”
Cynthia Caiquo, head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s proceeds of crime department, told The Times: “Through our work with international jurisdictions we were able to secure the repatriation of £1 million, which has now been returned to fund future projects.”
Cambridge University told The Times that Abdi-Jalebi “no longer retains any affiliation with Churchill College or the university. His criminal activities were a heinous breach of trust.”
