The organised crime network fooled organisations by using forged letters purporting to be from legitimate building firms already carrying out work for the bodies.
They would write – either by email or fax – stating that their bank details had changed, and supplied new details of accounts controlled by the fraudsters.
The organisations, including NHS trusts and councils, would then unwittingly make payments into the criminals’ accounts before it was siphoned off and spread across the globe.
Guernsey’s States was the biggest single victim – paying out £2.6 million after the fraudsters posed as a building firm which was at the time carrying out work on the island’s runway.
Sentencing ten of those involved at Leicester Crown Court, Judge Philip Head said: ‘This was a sophisticated and widespread fraud in its conception and execution.’
Jailing the conspirators for between 22 weeks and ten years, he added: ‘These bodies were selected because it was hoped their accounting processes would be vulnerable.
‘The loss falls necessarily on those who are not able to pay it, ultimately the members of the public whose taxes fund these bodies.’
The case can only now be reported after reporting restrictions were lifted.
Several of those convicted provided the accounts, or administered how the money was moved, while others took a leading role in targeting organisations.
However, what the judge called the ‘prime-mover’, identified in court as Nigerian national Bayo Awonorin, is still at large, having failed to answer to police bail.
The money laundering operation crossed international borders, involving not just the UK, but Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Among the conspirators was a former nightclub toiletries’ seller, company directors and a newsagent.
