After any tragedy there is sometimes the likelihood that there may be one of two unethical people will exploit it for their own ends. Floods bring forth those who may claim for a television that wasn’t really damaged and high profile national disasters, often attract the odd chancer or fantasist who is seeking cash or craving public attention.

However what sets the Grenfell Tower fire aftermath apart is the sheer scale of frauds and piss taking that has cropped up. In my previous article on the oppressive arrests of those who burned a ‘mini Grenfell’ on their bonfire, I said that there were eight big frauds that had been busted by the police in connection to Grenfell, I was wrong, it was not eight, it is now thirteen cases so far. That’s thirteen cases that the police have uncovered, who knows how many more are yet to be discovered and prosecuted?

It’s not just the number of fraudsters that are connected with the Grenfell case that should give us concern but also the massive amounts of public money that are involved. In the latest case, a Muslim who fraudulently claimed to have been afflicted by the Grenfell tragedy managed to pocket over £100k by making false claims for benefits and accommodation. This particular Muslim fraudster, Sharife Elouahabi, aged 38, who has pleaded guilty to fraud charges, is probably the biggest individual scammer so far. In total nearly £500,000 has been defrauded from the taxpayer by those falsely claiming that they were afflicted by the Grenfell tragedy. Many have noted that the vast majority of those convicted or admitting Grenfell related frauds are people with names that are distinctly not British in origin. This fact was highlighted by a Tweet going round at the moment, that appeared in connection to a Metro Newspaper item, that was handwringing over the claim that there were ‘150 families displaced by the Grenfell fire awaiting rehousing, which the author of it, @Tory_Karen, claims is a list of al those convicted so far and the amounts that have been defrauded. Here is the Tweet in question:

You will no doubt notice that only four of the nine names are of English origin in a list that is by no means up to date. The fraudsters are mostly African and Asian in origin and they probably relate to people who come from cultures where corruption and defrauding the state is normal everyday behaviour. I would like to point out that just because someone is black or brown doesn’t mean that they are automatically a fraudster, but the cultures from which many of the Grenfell fraudsters come from do not have the same standards of probity as we in the West have. These frauds are not race related but they may well be related to the headspaces of the cultures from which the fraudsters hail from.

It seems that there is a significantly higher level of big frauds attached to the Grenfell case than there has been in other similar disasters. If I recall correctly following the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster in 1987, there was to my knowledge only a few attempts to defraud the fund that was set up for the victims of this particular tragedy. I also recall that these frauds were so few in number that those frauds that were alleged to have occurred were pretty big news at the time.

Contrast that situation with that of Grenfell. So far there’s been thirteen high value frauds connected with Grenfell and it is likely that not only are there probably more likely to come before the courts. It’s also likely to be the case that there might also be more of the minor cases of fraud that may well have been ‘no crimed’ by the police and Crown Prosecution Service on the grounds of cost and public interest. The whole Grenfell situation seems to be dominated not just by fraudsters but also by those displaced by Grenfell who are milking the situation in order to get far better replacement properties than they would otherwise have merited in normal circumstances. The combination of a massive level of fraud in connection to Grenfell and the greedy residents demanding the moon on a stick, is a significant financial and political disaster and is really starting to piss off the general public.

The whole aftermath of the Grenfell fire has been handled by the Government with extreme incompetence and in an atmosphere of ‘lets pander to every special interest group that has attached themselves to it’. Illegals resident in the tower block at the time of the fire have been cosseted and indulged and there seems to have been a woeful lack of financial control when it comes to dishing out our money to those alleged to have been displaced by the fire. This pandering and weak attitude shown by government and the failure to properly check whether those claiming funds were entitled to them, has brought about a shocking level of waste.

I share the views of those who look at the political and financial largesse that has been ladled on those displaced by the Grenfell fire and feel nothing but disgust. Like them, I also compare the favourable treatment given to those allegedly displaced by the Grenfell fire to other disasters that have happened in Britain. Unlike what has happened with regards Grenfell in these other disasters where victims have been left to rot or have had to jump through many hoops just to get the bare minimum of compensation that they require in order to rebuild. For example, those whose homes and businesses suffered immense damage in the 2015 Christmas floods in Britain,were still waiting for recompense nearly a year after the disaster. In contrast to the way that these Britons have been treated, the shysters and chancers who were caught up in Grenfell or claimed that they’d been caught up in Grenfell, have been indulged, fawned over and their mouths stuffed with our gold.

Sadly with the conclusion of the thirteenth Grenfell related fraud case, have to hold to the view that it will not be the last case of its type and neither will this case mark the end of a disaster relief programme that has been characterised by incompetence, waste and naked greed. Whilst I believe that it would have been right and humane to give emergency accommodation and some level of support to those displaced by the Grenfell fire, it was completely unacceptable to both waive immigration law for those displaced and to dump so much of our money and our resources on them. After what I’ve seen of the massive levels of fraud and incompetence and political grandstanding that has occurred over Grenfell I would never ever donate anything at all to the Grenfell fund nor support any organisation that is doing the same and I would advise others to consider doing the same.