A Black Lives Matter activist who helped organize the protest that led to the toppling of Edward Colston’s statue has been ordered to repay just £1 despite defrauding a charity worth tens of thousands.
Xahra Saleem was jailed for two-and-a-half years last year after admitting a charge of fraud after £32,000 in donations to charities went missing.
A further charge was also laid on file by the CPS and now police have determined for the first time that the total amount of money the woman is believed to have received and spent was around £70,000.
Police have now obtained a Confiscation Order against Saleem under the Proceeds of Crime Act, but as the 23-year-old spent all the money he stole in less than a year on Ubers, beauty treatments, clothes, takeaways and phones, the police Order is set for a nominal £1 They had to buy it for an amount of 100%, which allows the amount to increase if Saleem has money in the future.
The money was pledged by people around the world in a series of online fundraisers organized by Saleem, then known as Yvonne Maina, before and after the Black Lives Matter march in Bristol in June 2020.
But instead of going to good causes that people donated, he spent the money on a wide range of expenses and living expenses in less than a year; She lived a comfortable life with shopping, beauty treatments, taxis and food deliveries.
Saleem admitted a fraud charge last year and the court heard nearly £32,000 went missing from the first online fundraiser he set up.
Saleem was one of five young people who organized the Black Lives Matter march on June 7, 2020, where the Colston statue was toppled.
Before the march, he had set up an online fundraiser to help pay for Covid mitigation measures and other organizing costs.
When the fundraiser was set up, everyone who donated was told that if there was anything left over after the walk, it would be donated to a local youth organization called Change Your Mindset, based in St Paul’s and run by a group of mothers.
The fundraiser received a number of donations following the walk, raising more than £32,000, all of which had to be handed over to Changing Your Mindset.
They talked for months about how best to spend this money and decided to take the young people on the trip of a lifetime to Africa.
In the days following the protest, Saleem organized a second online fundraiser, which he said would be money to support the legal costs of anyone arrested or charged in connection with the statue’s toppling.
It was understood that tens of thousands of liras collected were lost and did not reach those arrested.
While six people accepted a police warning for their role in toppling the Colston statue, four others pleaded “not guilty”, went through a lengthy legal process and were eventually acquitted of criminal damage. Other organizations held separate fundraisers for the people known as the Colston 4.
Police now say Saleem may have received and spent up to £70,000 from both fundraisers.
The police and the courts can issue Confiscation Orders to criminals who have profited from their crimes, which include a certain amount of money that the police know the criminal can pay if he sells his assets.
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However, Saleem’s order is nominally £1 because he has neither money left nor assets of his own to contribute to it.
“Xahra Saleem admitted defrauding a charity of a significant sum of money and was sentenced to prison for this last year,” Det Con Anthony Davis said.
“While the money should have been given to young people in East Bristol, he made a conscious decision to keep it for himself.
“Following this serious fraud, innocent individuals who supported the charity were left to pick up the pieces.
“They were put in an incredibly difficult position trying to answer questions about Saleem’s guilt, even though they had done nothing wrong, and were left devastated by what had happened.
“In total it was estimated that Saleem received benefits worth approximately £70,000.
“No one should profit from crime and that is why we have taken proactive steps under the Proceeds of Crime Act,” he said.
The teenagers, who are part of the Changing Your Mindset group, said last year they thought Saleem should be sentenced to longer than the two-and-a-half years he received.
The group has now disbanded; This is mainly due to parents’ stress from dealing with the effects of lost money.
The founders said they had given up hope of getting any money or the donors (one of whom donated a five-figure sum) had given up hope of getting their money back.
“Saleem was ordered today at Bristol Crown Court to pay a nominal sum taking into account his existing assets,” Det Con Davis said.
“If he acquires assets in the future, we will have the opportunity to seek a repossession order through the courts through Section 22 of the Proceeds of Crime Act,” he added.