A Cambridge University academic who fraudulently claimed almost £2.5 million in government grants has been jailed for four years.

Dr. Ehsan Abdi-Jalebi, 38, a former engineering student, used faked documents to siphon off money from funding for renewable energy projects.

Ian Truby, from the National Crime Agency, said: “While the companies that Dr Abdi-Jalebi was involved with were doing some legitimate work in the field of renewable energy, he used them as a cash cow to siphon off money.

“This money had come in as government grants, so it was essentially stolen from taxpayers."

Dr. Ehsan Abdi-Jalebi, 38, was jailed for 4 years. Credit: NCA

Abdi-Jalebi was initially detained at Heathrow as he attempted to board a flight to Tehran with £137,000 cash hidden inside his luggage.

He was stopped again at Heathrow later that year, carrying around £100,000 cash concealed inside chocolate boxes.

An investigation into the companies he was involved with found he had fraudulently claimed around £2.8m in grants.

The National Crime Agency believe he took hundreds of thousands of pounds to Iran where some or all of it was invested in property.

On Friday 21 December at Blackfriars Crown Court Abdi-Jalebi admitted 13 counts of forgery and was sentenced to four years in prison.

Sarah Vodden, Director of Operations at Innovate UK, said: “By carrying out this fraud, Abdi Jalebi deprived genuine innovators of the opportunity for funding for their ideas."