A college principal has been ordered to hand over nearly £300,000 to the taxman after failing to pay any income tax on his south London property empire for 15 years.

Between 1997 and 2012 Macdonald Abamba, 57, of West Way, Carshalton, used the tax he should have paid for renting out 10 properties in Croydon, Lewisham and Bromley to buy more properties in the UK and Dubai, and land in Ghana and Nigeria.

HM Revenue and Customs uncovered the fraud as part of a clampdown on tax-avoiding landlords, and originally offered Abamba the opportunity to pay back the £216,260 in undeclared tax, with interest and penalties, without risking prosecution.

But it began a criminal investigation when he refused to pay. 

Abamba, principal of the School of Computing and Business Studies in Brixton, was convicted of tax evasion on Monday at Croydon Crown Court after pleading guilty on 4 January.

He was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years, as well as 200 hours of unpaid work. 

He was ordered to repay £283,886.47 within three months, or face a default three year prison sentence.

John Cooper, assistant director of HMRC's fraud investigation service, said: “Abamba should have done the right thing by declaring this income. He was given the opportunity to come clean and pay what he owed but he chose to ignore it. 

“The majority of us pay the tax that’s due, when it’s due and it is unfair that people like Abamba think they have the right to steal money that is needed to fund vital public services."