Home Office Visa Official Jailed For Student Scam

A UK Border Agency visa case worker - who offered extensions to students for cash - rejecting one application when £1500 was not paid, has been jailed for four years.

Civil servant Waseem Majid, 36, by-passed immigration rules on a "vast scale" but was caught after a Mauritian student  recorded his demands for money during a telephone conversation.

He was employed by the Home Office at Croydon's Lunar House and when the UKBA and police raided his home he dumped incriminating files over his back garden fence and more were found in his shed, bedroom and Mercedes car.

Father-of-one Majid, of Chestnut Rise, Woolwich was convicted of two counts of misconduct in public office on or before August 28, 2011 - the day his home was raided.

"He was encouraging people and he was doing it for money," said Croydon Crown Court Judge Stephen Waller. "It only came to light because one person had the guts to go to the police.

"You knew the power you had over applicants and you were trusted by your employers to act responsibly and fairly," the judge told first-time offender Majid.

"You abused your position to access confidential information to provide an immigration advisory service on a widespread basis and your motivation was to make money.

"You made a demand of one particular applicant, who wanted a student visa extension, of fifteen hundred pounds. You could have been charged with blackmail, it was a very serious offence."

The court heard UK-born Majid, whose family is of Pakistani origin, now fears his non-English speaking wife will struggle to properly claim benefits while he is in prison.

Prosecutor Mr. Tony Badenoch told the jury others were involved in organising the visa scam, but Majid was the ringleader.

  

"He was at the head of it and had access to information and the opportunity to take that material away from work for criminal purposes.

"He did things way, way, way outside his remit, things that were criminal and Majid was doing this on a vast scale," explained Mr. Badenoch. "He was not just taking home his own files, but everyone else's.

"When his home was visited a brown Mercedes was parked outside and when officers entered they noticed his wife looked nervous and kept glancing toward the back garden.

"Located in a garden next-door was a mass of confidential UK Border Agency documentation in bags and there were more in the shed, his bedroom and the Mercedes.

"He had taken the documentation home for criminal purposes, we say, and texts found on a phone also dumped in the bag contained biographical details of people for criminal purposes."

Texts in the dumped phone revealed Majid had been sent the details of eighteen hopeful visa applicants.

"They knew what Majid was all about, that is why they kept going to him. They knew going to Majid was the best way to sort out the visas, there was a service being provided that was criminal," added Mr. Badenoch.

Investigators discovered Majid had written amounts of money , such as £500 and £1,000 next to the names of applicants he was dealing with. 

Majid telephoned Mauritian-born University of Greenwich business information technology graduate Nirmal Kumar Ramdeehul, 26, demanding £1,500 to approve his visa extension application, and the jury were played the recordings.

"I received a phone call from an unknown person from a withheld number and they told me they worked for the Home Office," the student told the court.

"The person said he was looking after my application and he said he thought I would not be getting a visa.

"He said I had been working over the allowed time of twenty hours per week."

Majid's work extension number was later checked and it was confirmed calls had been made to Mr. Ramdeehul's mobile.

"The same man phoned a few days later, calling me 'bruv', and he said there should be a deal for me to get the visa.

"He said I should pay money to be granted the visa, over a thousand pounds. I was very much shocked, I was not expecting things like this to happen."

Mr. Ramdeehul did not pay any money and a few days later his application was refused by Majid.

Mr. Alex Britton, defending, said: "He has a wife, a five year-old son, has diabetes and suffers depression and he is worried his wife, who is from Pakistan, will not be able to deal with the bills and benefit claims."

Majid, who has worked on-and-off for the UKBA for over a decade was suspended for two years in 2002, but was eventually cleared of any misconduct.

He was sacked on October 20, 2011 and has been living on benefits ever since.

A total of twenty-nine Home Office staff have been convicted of visa offences in the last five years.