A former employee of the UK Border Agency
(UKBA) in Nigeria, Natasha Vukic and her partner, James Mooney are
currently standing trial for faking a visa application to bring their
Nigerian nanny to Britain to work for £300 a month.
Natasha and her partner, James
who worked as an immigration officer but later took up a management
position with the Foreign Office in Lagos have a three year old son and
were living in Lagos as at 2011. However, Natasha had obtained a
transfer back to the UK to take up a post in the UKBA’s Criminal and
Financial Investigations Unit, based in Croydon and planned to take her
son with her.
The prosecutor, Riel Karmy-Jones told
the jury at the Inner London Crown Court that she was considering the
cost of childcare in the UK. “She planned to take her young son with
her. No doubt on her mind was childcare, and specifically the cost of
childcare in London was something that she and James Mooney had to
consider,” Daily Mail reported.
They therefore hit upon a plan
that their Nigerian nanny and maid, Rose, would be the ideal candidate
to continue to look after their son when Natasha worked in
London. Natasha was then said to have filled out a visa application form
on their maid’s behalf.
They are alleged to have faked Rose’s
documents claiming she had worked for them for a year in Nigeria so they
could bring her to their home in Coulsdon, South London, where she
would have worked 11 hours a day, five days a week, looking after their
three year-old son for just £300 a month. But in actual fact, Rose had
only worked for them for six months.
The maid was actually granted the
vias for 11 months. However, James was said to have asked for it to be
reissued for the full year requested. It was at this point that it
attracted the attention of issuing officer Lindsey Moore, who knew the
couple and recalled visiting their flat in the autumn of 2010 before a
night out. Further investigations revealed that the couple’s previous
maid named Georgina was sacked a few months before Christmas 2010 after
being accused of stealing around £4. Meanwhile, the couple claimed Rose
had worked for them since May 2010 when she actually started working for
them in November 2010.
The prosecutor described their action as greedy. “The
motive is one of greed. Had they succeeded, had Rose come to the UK for
a period of a year, she would have worked for what can only be
described as a pittance.”
“Their role in this offence is all
the more culpable and serious because of what they do, for Natasha Vukic
and James Mooney have both considered and approved and refused the
applications made by others. They have, in effect, stood in judgement
over others for the very same offence they have now committed.”
Isn’t it interesting that it’s not only
Nigerians who try to take their domestic help to foreign countries to
continue working for them for paltry salaries?
Photo Credit: Daily Mail UK
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