27 July 2006

LONDON - A CORRUPT Zimbabwean working as an immigration officer in the United Kingdom has been exposed by the Sun newspaper after a sting operation organised by a genuine asylum seeker and the tabloid.

Joseph Dzumbira, 35, boasted to The Sun that he has helped 200 bogus asylum seekers enter Britain for cash.

Senior Home Office worker Joseph Dzumbira bragged to an undercover reporter that he could get anyone refugee status for up to £2,000.

He agreed to provide fake documents and IDs and coach bogus asylum seekers on how to cheat the system using loopholes learned in his job.

His biggest scam is pretending people of other nationalities are “Zim” cases — Zimbabweans threatened with arrest in their homeland. He knows the Home Office will not deport people to Zimbabwe because they face torture and death at the hands of President Mugabe’s thugs.

Dzumbira has worked for seven years at the scandal-ridden Lunar House asylum HQ in Croydon, South London.

Earlier this year The Sun exposed a sex-for-visas racket at the same office.

Dzumbira — part of a gang which includes other bent immigration officers, solicitors and an ex-cop — boasted: “I believe in delivering results. There are people who can bend the rules.”

We were tipped off about Dzumbira by a disgusted asylum seeker who received huge demands for cash.

Known very well amongst the Zimbabwean community in Southend-on-Sea, Dzumbira bragged to all and sundry about what he could do for those trying to stay in the UK legally. In one instance, he hid the papers of a Zimbabwean woman seeking asylum trying to clear all the other cases so he could get an opportunity to speak with her and ask for a bribe to assist her. In another, he followed a group of former Daily News journalists from Zimbabwe who had gone to the courts to support a friend at the appeals court.

He told them the case had not been handled well by the lawyer and if they were prepared to pay he would assist them and influence the judge through his "powerful friends". They saw through him and refused to work with him.

He insisted and the group was saved by a train that arrived early when he had nipped into the toilet at Hatton Cross tube station. Since he had already taken a number of one of the journalists before they knew his intentions, Dzumbira pestered the group with phone calls soon after.

In the end they ignored his calls. He even tried to lure them into parting with their money saying not only could he help their colleague with her papers but also with mortgages because he was also linked to the housing market in the UK. But, many in Southend, which today has been abuzz with his story after the Sun exposed him, believed he was a liar who did not work with anyone in the immigration department.

"This guy is a liar, he was just swindling people out of their money with promises that he would assist them. It is sad that he gives Zimbabweans a bad name and takes advantage of the situation of ordinary people running away from persecution to make money," one woman he almost conned from Southend said.

Another Zimbabwean who knows him well said: "Dzumbira is known amongst Zimbabweans to be a liar and it's a pity he could have also been lying about what he can do for people and in the process making the British government more harsh on genuine asylum seekers. That he cons people out of money is true but for a long time all of us here have been sceptical about what he says because he lies about everything. This whole big racker, I would not be surprised if it only involved one man and his fertile imagination."

In the case of the Sun reporter, Dzumbira finally met him and a genuine refugee at a McDonald’s restaurant in Canning Town, East London after a number of calls and missed opportunities.

The journalist, wearing a hidden camera, claimed to be a people smuggler.

Dzumbira showed his Home Office pass and payslip to prove where he worked.

Our man asked how much his services would cost.

He replied: “The minimum, to be honest, is eight.”

Sun: “Eight hundred?”

D: “Eight hundred pounds. I always try to charge a reasonable amount.”

Sun: “What could it go up to if it is a difficult case?”

D: “There are some people who come who know nothing. One-five.”

Sun: “One thousand five hundred?”

D: “Some people as much as two with documentation.”

Sun: “How would they pay you?”

D: “Some people pay as soon as their things are ready. Some tell you they will pay in instalments.”

Sun: “From the start will they have to put something down first?”

D: “Yeah obviously. Normally we ask for about 75 per cent of the total cost.”

Sun: “Okay. So in a case that will cost £800, they would pay what?”

D: “Normally we would ask them to deposit five.”

Sun: “How many people have you helped?”

D: “Quite a number.”

Sun: “Ten, thirty?”

D: “I can’t count. Do you want a figure for those I have given advice, assisted?”

Sun: “Assisted.”

D: “Couple of hundred.”

Dzumbira claimed Zimbabwean asylum seekers avoid proper security checks.

He said: “I know Nigerians are claiming to be Zimbabwean. No one checks.”

He offered to provide a fake Zimbabwean arrest warrant supporting a pack of lies he would tell the Home Office about the asylum seeker’s life being in danger.

The policy of not sending Zimbabweans home — known as country guidance — is binding on all courts.

Dzumbira told our asylum seeker, whose first claim was rejected in 2003: “There was a lady who was in your situation.

“There is new country guidance. It says those that claim asylum will be at risk if they go back to Zim.

“So if you are able to prove, like this lady, that she was wanted by police . .

“I’m going to give you a number for this lady. She was a police officer. She knows the right places. For £10 it will change your life.”

Sun: “For £10 she can..?”

D: “Get a stamp from the police, a summons that says you are wanted. Those are the very people you want.

“What you ought to do is make what they call a fresh, a fresh claim. Say you are wanted by the police. I will give you the lady’s number. Ring her today.”

Sun: “She’s in London?”

D: “No, she’s based in Leeds this one.

Sun: “So what, she can get the documents here?”

D: “No, they give you an account. The money is transferred to that person’s account, then someone in Zim meets the police officers who give you the documents. Then they are sent to England.”

 
Dzumbira offered to provide immigration documents which our asylum seeker should “study carefully” before going to court.

Dzumbira, who is in charge of vetting thousands of claims, also said he would make sure he was on duty if ever any of the reporter’s “asylum seekers” needed to visit Lunar House for an interview.

He said he worked closely with two firms of solicitors, a detail he kept secret from his bosses.

Driving licences, IDs and payslips to support claims were “not a problem”.

He also said Britain’s border controls were so lax that anyone could arrive, post their passport home and then a relative could use it to come here too.