STAFFORDSHIRE, United Kingdom — A Zimbabwe mother-of-two who won £95 000 on the TV show Deal or No Deal has been charged with benefit fraud.
Report by Daily Mail
Caroline Banana (40), of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire in the UK, allegedly failed to tell the authorities about her winnings on the television game show and continued to claim £5 000 in State handouts including housing and council tax benefit, between November 2011 and 2012.
By law, benefit claimants must tell the Department for Work and Pensions if, through windfall or inheritance, they come into enough money to push their bank balance over £16 000.
Banana, who was born in Zimbabwe, and married to former President Canaan Banana’s son Michael, is now due to appear in front of magistrates later this month. She has offered to repay the money, but council officials have continued with the prosecution regardless.
Banana won the cash on the Channel 4 programme just over a year ago, telling viewers she would use her good fortune to buy her own home and help her family in Zimbabwe.
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A statement on the show’s website said the win meant “Caroline could buy a home, allow Michael (48) to finish his degree and help her family back in Africa”. Just 14 months after her television appearance, however, Stoke-on-Trent City Council accused her of being a benefit cheat.
Banana is due to appear at North Staffordshire Justice Centre on February 20.