A Bangladeshi man, who pleaded guilty to possession of a false passport and dishonest representation for obtaining state-funded benefits in the UK, faces deportation back to Bangladesh after being sentenced to 18 months in prison for the fraud.
Mohammed Ahmed, formerly known as Shirajul Hoque, claimed 6,762 pounds of Universal Credit to which he was not entitled between February 2018 and January 2019, cheating the state out of thousands of pounds.
The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) told Chester Crown Court in north-west England that the 39-year-old entered the UK from Bangladesh as a Bangladeshi national born in 1969. He did not qualify for British citizenship and has never made an application for entry clearance to the UK.
In 2003, he made an application for a passport, under the name of Shirajul Hoque, and provided an old British blue passport as identification. That old passport turned out to be a forgery. In 2008, he applied for another passport with a change of name deed poll document that changed his name from Shirajul Hoque to Mohammed Shiraj Ahmed. He was issued with another passport.
As a result of the application to the UK's Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) between March 2018 and January 2019, Universal Credit payments amounting to 6,762.81 pounds were paid into his bank account. In January this year, DWP officials searched Ahmed’s house in the town of Holmes Chapel in Chester found the deed poll document and one of the passports.
He was arrested on Jan 15 and pleaded guilty to possession of a false identity document with intent and dishonest representation for obtaining benefit.
Rob Girvan, from the CPS’ Mersey Cheshire’s Fraud Unit, said: “Mohammed Ahmed has gone from one cheat to another since he came to this country under a false identity.
“Proving the extent of his fraudulent activity has involved liaison with a number of government departments and officials and the setting up a video-link for a witness to give evidence from Bangladesh. Ahmed had no right to this money and no right to be here and the work of the Crown Prosecution Service has brought him to justice.”
The CPS said two other charges, of possession of a false identity document with intent and making an untrue statement for the purpose of obtaining a passport, will also lie on his file.
Ahmed’s 18-month prison sentence is suspended for two years, which means he escapes time behind bars for now, and is required to surrender his false passport.
The decision on his deportation to Bangladesh has been passed to the UK Home Office.