UK visa scandal housekeeper arrested
September 25 2009 by Mark Johnstone
Loloahi Tapui in UK visa row
Loloahi Tapui, the housekeeper fired by the Attorney General, Baroness Scotland last week, has been arrested by police and UK immigration officials.
The 27-year-old Tongan national was reported to be on the run after details of her illegal UK visa status were discovered.
Tapui and her husband, the Serbian born solicitor Alexander Zivancevic, were arrested yesterday by Scotland Yard officers in Chiswick, south west London.
She was questioned over alleged immigration offences after she was found working in the UK with no visa. She was released on bail until October.
A police spokesman said: “A man aged 40 and a woman aged 27 were arrested by police at an address in Chiswick on September 23 for immigration offences. The man has been bailed to return to a date in late October, the woman to a date in mid-October.”
A UK Border Agency spokesman said: “We can confirm that a woman and a man were arrested and questioned by UK Border Agency officers on September 23 for immigration offences in relation to an ongoing investigation.”
The UK Border Agency fined Baroness Scotland £5,000. Scotland then added to the row by playing down of her offence, saying that it was no worse than being fined £60 for failing to pay the congestion charge when driving into central London.
Prime minister Gordon Brown backed his Attorney General, saying she should keep her job. This move prompted discontent among Labour Party colleagues and the opposition, even provoking MP Stephen Hesford, a parliamentary aide to the law officers, to resign his post in protest.
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