Samuel Kayode, 57, was an
accountant at Haberdashers'
Aske's academies
• Under investigation after
£4million of school funds
ended up in his accounts
• Alleged to have spent much
of cash on extravagant lifestyle
and properties
• The High Court case is
believed to be Britain's biggest
ever education fraud
An accountant at a chain of
academies championed by
Michael Gove is at the centre of
a fraud investigation after
£4million of school funds
ended up in his personal
accounts.
Nigerian-born Samuel Kayode
is said to have spent much of
the cash on an extravagant
lifestyle and buying a string of
properties.
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.
He has failed to do so, and it is
feared most of the cash has
been transferred to Nigeria.
The case, kept secret for
almost two years, is believed
to be Britain’s biggest ever
education fraud.
Although Kayode was arrested
in October 2012, police have
yet to charge him with any
crime.
Critics of academies – state
schools which have control of
their own finances – say the
massive loss of cash calls that
entire system into question.
Questions were also asked
about whether Mr Gove – who
lost his job as Education
Secretary last week – took
close enough interest in the
case.
The vast sum of money is
missing from the
Haberdashers’ Aske’s
Federation Trust in South
London.
It 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 were
founded with his money.
Three Haberdashers’ Aske’s
state secondaries in South-
East London – Hatcham
College, Knight’s Academy and
Crayford Academy – are run by
the trust as a separate
charitable wing funded by Mr
Aske’s endowment. They were
often referred to by Mr Gove in
speeches.
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.
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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