Get married if you want to stay in this country…
Muhammad Azfar Ahmad (above) told our undercover reporter to apply for asylum by claiming to have been part of a Sikh separatist group in conflict with the Indian government.
But the lawyer also advised that the chances of this working were weak and recommended an alternative.
He said: ‘Once he has claimed asylum, he will be able to register a marriage in a marriage office. Once the marriage is registered, he can apply any time as a spouse of a British national or whatever the position will be with the British settled person.’
Later he added: ‘We will make some story. But do something to get him married, that’s better.’ The solicitor advised getting his potential wife to call utility providers and ‘put his name on the bills’ to give the impression that the couple lived together.
Mr Ahmad also outlined the ‘fine ingredients of an asylum case’. He said: ‘You need to establish that there was a threat to his life and he fled his country due to fear for his life – it’s political opinion, religious matters and race, caste and a particular social group means he fell in love with a person of a different caste and they are the enemy of his life. Or maybe he is a gay.’
His firm Kingswright Solicitors said: ‘We entirely refute the allegations. However, we have commenced an internal investigation.’
Concocted a horrific tale of sexual torture
For a fee of £10,000, VP Lingajothy (above) proposed a horrific backstory for an undercover reporter posing as an economic migrant to use in an asylum claim.
The legal adviser told the journalist to falsely tell Home Office officials that he had been politically persecuted in India before being sexually tortured, beaten and forced into slave labour, leaving him suicidal.
From his office in Colliers Wood, southwest London, Mr Lingajothy said he should lie about having ‘some psychological problems’ and produced a packet of antidepressant pills for him to give to officials as evidence of his supposed mental trauma.
‘In your story, I will also include this medication – when you were released [from jail in India], you went to see a doctor and they prescribed all the medicines I have here,’ he said.
Mr Lingajothy denied making up false stories, suggesting he had confused our reporter with another client.
Duncan Ellis, which is not among the firms that has been closed, said it took the claims ‘seriously’, adding it had sacked Mr Lingajothy and reported matters to the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
£4,000 fee to file a fake asylum claim
Despite being told our undercover reporter had come to the UK for work, Rashid Ahmad Khan (above) still agreed to help him file an asylum claim to the Home Office for £4,000.
When asked what he should say in his application, Mr Khan responded: ‘Just write why he’s come here illegally. Like, he’s taken a loan from someone, who that party is … see, everyone who enters illegally has a reason.
‘Some political reason. Some fight with someone. He’ll have to write these things to make up some story. If he doesn’t say anything, he will get nothing.’
Our reporter later tried to clarify what he should write down, asking: ‘A political problem?’
Mr Khan, of Rashid & Rashid Solicitors, replied: ‘Political, yes. Anything, just take name of a party.’
Approached by the Mail, Mr Khan denied he offered to help submit a fabricated asylum claim and said he always acted with integrity and honesty.
Say you’ve been a trafficking victim
Malik Nazar Hayat (above) was told that the undercover reporter didn’t have a fear of persecution back home in India, but the immigration solicitor still agreed to help him file an asylum claim to the Home Office.
Concocting a fake story for the claim, Mr Hayat said: ‘The problem is that he doesn’t have anything now. We have to create the evidence. We have to… you can say, create something.’
He also told the reporter – a young man who he believed was an economic migrant – to say he was a ‘victim of human trafficking… because he contacted some agent, gave him some money, the agent promised him a job and visa, and now the agent has disappeared.
‘So now he is helpless. He is a victim of human trafficking and, secondly, he fears persecution and assassination.’
The lawyer said the whole process would cost £5,500 in cash – a price he claimed was a steal compared to his usual fees of £12,000 to £15,000 for similar cases.
Mr Hayat’s firm Lincoln Lawrence said it took the allegations very seriously and was investigating.
