Visa cheat lied for job, law chief tells court

Loloahi Tapui told her she understood why it was important everything was done correctly when she applied for a job as her cleaner in September last year, Baroness Scotland, the chief law officer for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, said.

But Tapui, 27, had lied and overstayed her visa by four years, Southwark Crown Court in London heard.

Yesterday, Baroness Scotland denied she had been so busy with her work she simply assumed Tapui had the right to remain and work in the UK because her husband Alex Zivancevic was a lawyer and spoke with an English accent.

"That's not true," she said.

Under cross examination by Christopher Hehir, defending Tapui, she insisted all of Tapui's documents had been checked but admitted she had made a mistake by not taking copies.

"I'm so sorry about this. I can't tell you how sorry I am. But I'm afraid it still doesn't change the fact that she asserted she was lawfully entitled to be in this country and lawfully available for work. She was not. She lied to me."

She added:"I thought this woman was married to a member of the legal profession. It never crossed my mind that a lawyer in this country would be married to an illegal immigrant and then pass her off as a cleaner to the Attorney General."

Tapui, of Chiswick, west London, admits possessing a passport with a counterfeit visa stamp which she bought from a Russian for 180, but denies using it fraudulently or making a false representation that she was entitled to work in the UK.

The trial continues today.