Suella Braverman wages war on crooked immigration lawyers as she announces new taskforce to root out rogue firms with those found guilty of fraud facing LIFE in jail
- Braverman to unveil anti-corruption taskforce and praised Mail investigation
- Last month, we revealed some solicitors create false asylum claims for £10k
Suella Braverman today announces a major clampdown on crooked immigration lawyers following a Mail investigation.
The Home Secretary will unveil an anti-corruption taskforce to dramatically improve the way intelligence is gathered on rogue solicitors.
She praised this newspaper’s investigation last month that revealed some solicitors were charging up to £10,000 to create fake asylum and human rights claims for illegal immigrants.
Mrs Braverman said last night: ‘The Mail has done a great public service with its investigation into crooked immigration lawyers.
‘These conmen make it far harder to remove people who have no right to be here – and they must face the full force of the law.
The Home Secretary (pictured) will unveil an anti-corruption taskforce to dramatically improve the way intelligence is gathered on rogue solicitors. She praised this newspaper’s investigation last month that revealed some solicitors were charging up to £10,000 to create fake asylum and human rights claims for illegal immigrants
The taskforce brings together watchdogs, legal industry bodies, government departments and law enforcement to gather stronger evidence against dodgy lawyers. In future, it will widen its scope to investigate doctors, accountants and employers who conspire to aid illegal migrants. Those found guilty of fraud could face life imprisonment (pictured: migrants arriving in Dover after being rescued during a small boating incident last Friday)
‘I want to see the worst offenders in jail and we have the laws in place to bring them to justice. I know our teams are working incredibly hard to root out those who game our asylum system and cheat the British public – this can’t go on.’
The taskforce has been secretly working for months but its existence was officially confirmed only today.
READ MORE: EXCLUSIVE – Shut down: Solicitors’ watchdog dramatically closes three legal firms caught offering to submit false asylum claims for thousands of pounds following Mail exposé
A Home Office spokesman said the unit had already uncovered links between an immigration advice firm and ‘one of the most wanted human traffickers’.
Details of the case have been referred to the police, he added.
The taskforce brings together watchdogs, legal industry bodies, government departments and law enforcement to gather stronger evidence against dodgy lawyers.
In future, it will widen its scope to investigate doctors, accountants and employers who conspire to aid illegal migrants. Those found guilty of fraud could face life imprisonment.
The Professional Enablers Taskforce will train frontline immigration staff to identify and report ‘suspect activity’.
This could include, for example, patterns of similar claims being submitted for different migrants by the same firms.
Evidence dossiers will be passed on to police or the National Crime Agency to launch prosecutions.
In addition, there will be improved intelligence-sharing across a range of departments and quangos.
Mrs Braverman will today chair a meeting with her Cabinet colleague Alex Chalk, the Solicitors Regulation Authority watchdog and the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner to herald the new crackdown.
Mrs Braverman will today chair a meeting with her Cabinet colleague Alex Chalk (pictured), the Solicitors Regulation Authority watchdog and the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner to herald the new crackdown
Mr Chalk, who is the Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary, said: ‘The accuracy and honesty of legal advice underpins the integrity of our world-leading legal system, so those who undermine it by encouraging deception must be held to account.
‘This Government is committed to stopping the boats – that means breaking the business model of criminal gangs and holding to account unscrupulous lawyers who aid and abet them by abusing the legal system.’
The Mail’s investigation led to the SRA suspending three legal firms caught offering to lodge fake asylum applications.
READ MORE: Migrants board Bibby Stockholm: Up to 50 single men are greeted by pro-migrant campaigners bearing gift packages of flowers, maps and shampoo as they finally move on to the Dorset-based vessel
The lawyers who were the subject of this paper’s expose are being investigated by the SRA over their allegedly unlawful activities. The police have not become involved at this stage.
In one case, a legal adviser told an undercover reporter posing as an economic migrant that he could invent claims of sexual torture, beatings, slave labour, false imprisonment and death threats.
He promised he could get a doctor’s report to back up the story and even produced anti-depressants to be given to the Home Office as ‘evidence’ of psychological trauma.
At another firm, a lawyer said he would have to ‘create the evidence’ to make it appear the reporter had a genuine fear of ‘persecution and assassination’ if he returned home.
He boasted of a success rate of more than 90 per cent with similar asylum cases. A third outlined the ‘fine ingredients of an asylum case’ he said he would use to make it appear that the reporter feared for his life in India.
This could include anti-government political allegiances, a love affair with someone from the wrong caste or being gay.
Two said they would falsely claim that the undercover reporter was a ‘victim of human trafficking’ who had been fleeced, betrayed and abandoned by people smugglers.
Mrs Braverman said last night: ‘Crooked immigration lawyers must be rooted out and brought to justice. While the majority of lawyers act with integrity, we know that some are lying to help illegal migrants game the system. It is not right or fair on those who play by the rules.
‘The British people want us to put an end to illegal migration – I am determined to crack down on these immoral lawyers and stop the boats.’
Lawyers who coach migrants on how to fraudulently remain in Britain can be prosecuted under the Immigration Act 1971 for ‘assisting unlawful immigration to the UK’. The crime’s maximum penalty is a life sentence.
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