Diaspora News of Monday, 29 June 2009

Source: News of the world

Ghanaian Busted in Bride Scam in UK

A GREEDY pair of lawyers - One Ghanaian- are flooding Britain with illegal immigrants - by flogging them bogus European brides at £12,000 a time. But their sham marriage scam is about to end up ON THE ROCKS now the News of the World has stepped in.
And Samrhan Iqbal and his pal, who offered our undercover reporter a wife, could soon be hearing police sirens instead of wedding bells.
For his £12,000 fee, solicitor Iqbal was also willing to supply all paperwork for the marriage and permit to stay, plus advice on how to fool immigration authorities.
At his firm's dingy offices near the 2012 London Olympics site, Iqbal told our man, who was posing as an illegal, desperate to stay in Britain: "Give us a week or two to find the right girl.
"We want you to be successful, so you will send us somebody else. We just can't tell people we do this kind of work."
But it didn't take long for Iqbal, who runs IH Solicitors in Stratford, east London, and his lawyer sidekick Rodney Nkrumah-Boateng, to produce a beauty ready to say "I do".

Next day they called us back and introduced our man to Soraiya de Silva Cruz, 24, from Portugal. Boateng proudly handed her ID card and pay-slips to our man, saying: "I'm happy with her. She speaks very good English. I don't like it when they don't, it gets complicated."

Laughing, he added: "I told her I've found her a nice husband." But the blushing bride clearly had no intention sharing of nuptial bliss with our man. She only agreed to go through with the wedding for a promised slice of the £12,000 deal.
Soraiya told us: "I work at a butchers in Ealing. I've been there three years, I cut meat, everything."
Boateng explained the plan to her: "Because he is not from the EU he needs a certificate of approval to marry. It will have both of your photographs lasered on to it, and then you go to his local registry office to get married."
Concerned at the apparent age difference, Soraiya said: "If he shaves his beard off he'll look a lot more younger."
Boateng explained our man must provide "evidence" the couple had been living together before he could apply to the Home Office to stay legally as "the husband of a European national".
Our reporter claimed to be married already, but the lawyer said it was no problem. "The girl is fully aware," he said.
"Her aims are financial. Of course you don't have to live with her, she doesn't want to live with you."
Boateng bragged he has arranged SCORES of fake marriages over the last five years. He even showed us a Home Office "certificate of approval to marry" issued to a client from Bangladesh.
Evidence
"That's the certificate we need to apply for," he explained. "The Home Office will want evidence you are in a relationship.
"If you have an electric or gas bill have her name put on it. You know, something to show you both live at the address."
"The total cost, including application fees, everything comes to £12,000."
Demanding half in advance, Boateng told our man to meet up with Soraiya before the marriage.
"When you go to the register office they will look at the body language, see you are comfortable with each other," he said.
"Don't worry there will be no funny stuff. I know you are a married man.
"If you are marrying a European citizen you do not have to be here legally, as long as she is living in the UK and working. It is a loophole.
"And you do not have to go back home to apply, as you do if you marry an English girl."
Sounds like the crafty lawyers have this wedding lark all worked out. But it's all totally illegal.
Just wait until cops see our dossier . . . and the long arm of the law reaches out for them. (LINK to original story)