Gardai look into asylum welfare frauds

Gardai are investigating a series of welfare frauds involving asylum-seekers which have come to light after the clampdown on illegal immigration introduced earlier this summer.

In one of the frauds under investigation, several dozen people were found to have applied for asylum under more than one name.

They then attempted to claim welfare benefits fraudulently in respect of each identity.

Another fraud involves the falsification of welfare cheques paid to some asylum-seekers. The Gardai were was called in after the Paymaster General discovered that a number of supplementary welfare cheques paid out to asylum-seekers had been doctored.

In one case, the standard £65.40 weekly sum paid as supplementary welfare had been changed to a figure of £1,665.40. In two other cases, the amounts were changed to £665.40 and £565.40.

In each case the money was lodged to an account opened in the name of a Nigerian asylum-seeker. The level of expertise involved in falsifying the cheques, including the doctoring of the magnetic strips, led investigators to believe it was the work of a professional gang.

Gardai have also been asked to examine evidence that some female asylum-seekers are engaged in prostitution in Dublin. It is believed the women, from central Africa, have been brought into Ireland by pimps who have used the asylum procedure to legitimise their presence in the country.

The evidence collected by immigration authorities has prompted renewed Government concern that Ireland is being targeted by organised gangs specialising in the trafficking of refugees or in social welfare fraud. According to some reports, agents are charging up to £3,000 to bring people to Ireland.

The Department of Social Welfare is following up evidence that some immigrants have made multiple applications for asylum. In a number of cases, individuals were found to have applied for asylum in two names and even three names. In one case, a person was found to have applied under four names. The people involved then claimed supplementary welfare allowance in respect of each of their aliases.

It is common practice for refugees to ensure their safety by disguising their identity when fleeing persecution. However, under the new Refugee Act, it will be an offence for a person to give false or misleading information or to forge or alter identity papers once they have submitted an application for asylum.

Under the tightened immigration procedures introduced in June by the former Minister for Justice, Mrs Nora Owen, immigration officers have the power to check people arriving from Britain and Northern Ireland and to refuse entry to non-EU nationals whose papers are not in order. This is the first time in the history of the State that these checks have been operated.

Almost 500 people have been sent back to the UK since the controls were introduced. This figure includes 20 people who sought asylum here. The controls have turned up other groups of illegal immigrants, including members of the Chinese and Vietnamese communities whose papers were not in order.

In spite of the more stringent controls, the number of people applying for asylum has increased again, and currently averages about 100 a week.

Gardai have evidence that some people are hiding in vehicles arriving in the country. For example, slash-marks have been discovered in the canvas covering of trucks arriving at the ports, and people have been seen running from trucks as they make their first stop in Ireland.