Vicar convicted of UK marriage visa scams
July 30 2010 by Liam Clifford
A Sussex vicar has finally been jailed for his part in over 300 sham marriages mainly between Eastern Europeans and Nigerians looking to obtain UK visas.
Reverend Alex
Brown conducted 383 weddings over the past four years, 360 of which have since
been found to be fraudulent.
The Crown Prosecution Service said the case
was the largest of its kind it had seen and convicted the vicar, along with two
other accomplices for his central part in the crime.
The 61-year-old
vicar was found guilty of conspiring to facilitate illegal immigration. Two
co-defendents have also been found guilty of the same charge. One of these men,
Vladymyr Buchak, played his part by paying people from Eastern Europe up to
£3,000 to marry Africans, who were mainly from Nigeria, to help them obtain UK
marriage visas.
Solicitor Michael Adelasoye, the other co-defendant,
helped the illegal immigrants to apply for their visas and facilitated the
proceedings with his knowledge of the law surrounding UK immigration. He helped
to recruit participants through his work as a pastor at Hastings’ Ark of Hope
evangelical church.
Sentencing is scheduled for September and the judge
overseeing the case, Richard Hayward, told the defendents, "You have been
convicted on very clear evidence of a very serious offence and the court will be
considering all sentencing options."
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