A civil servant employed by the Home Office has received a prison term of four years and six months for soliciting payments from asylum seekers in exchange for approving their applications.
Imran Mulla, aged 39 and residing in Blackburn, Lancashire, exploited his position within the asylum team to manipulate the system for financial gain.
The executive officer targeted vulnerable applicants who faced likely rejection, contacting them directly with offers to reverse negative decisions for cash payments.
His scheme involved taking £3,500 from a Bangladeshi national whose claim he subsequently approved, whilst also attempting to extract £2,000 from a Turkish citizen.
Mulla pleaded guilty at Preston Crown Court
PA
The scheme began when Mulla accessed confidential Home Office databases to obtain contact details of asylum seekers whose applications had been rejected.
On February 16, 2024, just one day after Bangladeshi national Nural Amin Begh received his rejection letter, Mulla initiated contact using information he had illegally retrieved from Government systems.
Within six days, Begh had transferred £1,500 to Mulla's personal account, with multiple communications occurring between them in the following days.
Mulla simultaneously targeted a Turkish asylum seeker awaiting a decision, telephoning him under a false identity and warning that his application would likely fail unless he paid £2,000 for assistance.
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The corrupt official violated internal protocols on March 13 by reassigning Begh's case to himself before reversing the original rejection decision.
Additional payments continued flowing from Begh over subsequent months, eventually reaching a total of £3,500.
The Turkish national who received the suspicious call grew concerned and alerted his immigration solicitor, triggering an investigation that led to Mulla's arrest in March 2024.
Despite being under investigation by his employers, Mulla persisted in accepting money from Begh.
Mulla pleaded guilty to conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration, unauthorised computer access and three bribery charges
PA
The civil servant had previously completed mandatory training on security, data protection, counter-fraud measures, bribery and corruption prevention.
Mulla entered a guilty plea on March 12, 2025, at Preston Crown Court to conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration, unauthorised computer access and three bribery charges.
His co-defendant, Begh, pleaded guilty on June 9, 2025, just before his trial commenced, to conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and two bribery counts.
Frances Killeen, Senior Crown Prosecutor for CPS North West, said: "Imran Mulla was in a trusted position in the asylum team at the Home Office. He abused that trust to line his own pockets by offering to change the outcome of asylum applications for money."
Begh received an 18-month custodial sentence for his role in the bribery scheme.
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