‘Corrupt’ Home Office worker took thousands in bribes to grant asylum claim

From the Manchester Evening News

A ‘corrupt’ Manchester-based Home Office employee who took more than £3,000 in bribes to grant an asylum claim has been jailed for four-and-a-half years.

Imran Mulla, 39, took £3,500 in bribes from Bangladeshi national Nural Amin Begh, 23, to grant his asylum claim after it was initially refused. In February 2024, asylum seeker Begh was contacted by Mulla the day after his asylum claim was refused.

Six days later, Begh transferred £1,500 into Mulla’s bank account. Then, Mulla breached policy to allocate Begh’s case to himself and granted the asylum application.

Begh continued to transfer more money over the next few months, to a total of £3,500. At Preston Crown Court, Mulla, who considered asylum claims as part of a team in Manchester, pleaded guilty to assisting unlawful immigration to the UK, securing unauthorised access to computer material with intent to commit or facilitate and offence, and three counts of bribery.

He was jailed for four and a half years at Preston Crown Court on Monday (June 23). Begh, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration to the UK and two counts of bribery, was jailed for 18 months.

Mulla, from Blackburn, was foiled after contacting another target, a Turkish national who was waiting to hear if his asylum had been granted. I wonder how many others he took bribes from that were not uncovered?

Frances Killeen, senior crown prosecutor for CPS North West, said: “Imran Mulla was 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. 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.”

A “trusted position at the Home Office.”  He would have been recruited according to diversity quota principles after friends of mine, upright, incorrurtable, old-school officials, were made redundant, ostensibly to save money as their experience and professionasism meant they had earned a higher pay grade.  The Home Office and the Ministry of Justice were part merged, part restructured, and then decimated at the same time. I know. I was there. Until I wasn’t.