Court date for the Baroness as UK immigration case goes to Crown court
December 08 2009 by Liam Clifford
Baroness Scotland will have to give evidence at UK immigration trial
The housekeeper from Tonga who illegally worked for the Attorney General was in court yesterday for a dramatic confrontation with her former boss.
Lolohai Tapui, who was and remains an illegal immigrant, is likely to point the finger at Baroness Scotland and accuse her of falsifying the facts to protect her own job and career as the country's chief law officer.
At the preliminary court date into three UK immigration charges, Miss Tapui, 27, chose to go to trial for the alleged offences at Crown Court.
The Baroness was fined £5,000 following a story by a British tabloid revealing that she had broken UK immigration laws by hiring Miss Tapui as a cleaner in her house for £6 an hour..
While Miss Tapui was fired on the spot, the Labour peer refused to accept calls for her to resign by painting a picture that she was in fact also a victim of Miss Tapui's lies.
The conflicting stories are that the 54-year old barrister asked Miss Tapui for every piece of identity documentation she was required to by law, and was shown all the relevant paperwork - including a passport. Miss Tapui, however, argues that this was not the case.
Miss Tapui pleaded not guilty to the charges of fraudulently claiming to be entitled to work in the UK and possessing false documents, in the form of a Tongan passport with a false UK visa. She did not enter a plea for a third charge of staying over her UK work visa.
The case will be heard next month at Southwark Crown Court.
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