A junior Home Office staff member has been jailed for offering to grant asylum applications in exchange for thousands of pounds in bribes.
Imran Mulla, of Moorfield Avenue, Blackburn, worked as an executive officer in the Home Office’s asylum team based in Manchester. His duties involved managing a digital caseload, interviewing asylum seekers and considering their applications.
The 39-year-old was arrested in March last year after an asylum seeker from Turkey reported that a Home Office staffer had proactively contacted him and sought £2,000 for assistance in securing approval for his application.
Investigations subsequently revealed that Mulla was receiving payments from a failed asylum seeker from Bangladesh – 23-year-old Nural Amin Begh.
It emerged that Mulla had accessed the Home Office’s computer system, allocated himself Begh’s case and approved the previously-unsuccessful application. Begh paid a total of £3,500 for the approval, spread over several instalments.
No payments were made by the Turkish asylum seeker. He flagged Mulla’s approach to his immigration lawyers, who raised the alarm.
Mulla pleaded guilty to conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration, unauthorised access to computer material and three counts of bribery earlier this year. At a sentencing hearing at Preston Crown Court last week he was jailed for four-and-a-half years.
Begh, of High Street, Southampton, admitted conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration to the UK and two counts of bribery earlier this month. He was jailed for 18 months last week.
The Crown Prosecution Service said Mulla had completed all required training for his role, including courses on security and data protection and counter fraud, bribery and corruption.
Senior prosecutor Frances Killeen said Mulla had been in a trusted position in the asylum team at the Home Office.
“He abused that trust to line his own pockets by offering to change the outcome of asylum applications for money,” she said.
“I hope this case sends a clear message – the CPS is committed to working closely with law enforcement and immigration authorities to stamp out corruption.”