The UK Home Office has launched an investigation after a solicitor was secretly filmed by the BBC allegedly offering to make a £45,000 illegal-working fine disappear. The solicitor, Mohammad Alias Yousaf, also known as Alias, made the claim to an undercover reporter posing as a mini-mart owner facing a fine for employing an illegal worker.
Investigation and Regulatory Scrutiny
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has also announced it will review the BBC's findings to determine whether any misconduct by solicitors or law firms has occurred. Yousaf, who is based in Bradford, allegedly told the reporter he could avoid paying the fine if he found someone overseas willing to declare themselves as the owner of the mini-mart. Yousaf has denied ever providing such advice or giving false information to the Home Office.
The BBC's broader investigation uncovered that at least £150 million is currently owed to the government in uncollected illegal-working fines, according to Home Office figures obtained exclusively by the BBC. In response, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood ordered a review of how such fines are issued and collected. Mahmood thanked the BBC "for exposing those who undermine our rules," adding that "illegal working undermines honest employers, undercuts local wages, and fuels organised immigration crime."
Political Reactions and Enforcement Concerns
The Home Office stated it would investigate the allegations to see if there had been a breach of immigration rules. Senior politicians have since criticized UK immigration enforcement as "weak" and a "laughing stock." Shadow home secretary Chris Philp called for Yousaf to be "struck off as a solicitor," while shadow justice minister Nick Timothy wrote to the head of the SRA urging "urgent action, and stop Mr Yousaf practising as a solicitor."
Philp said: "Shabana Mahmood likes to boast about how many fines are issued, but now it turns out most just get ignored. No wonder we have a borders crisis with enforcement turning into a laughing stock." A spokesman for the SRA said: "We will be considering this information to see if there are any issues arising which we need to look into further."
The BBC also heard from an anonymous law enforcement whistleblower who revealed the difficulty in identifying the real owners of businesses caught with illegal workers. She described seeing immigration fine notices, "some worth £40,000, stuffed in a box" on a mini-mart counter. "I've said to owners 'I see you've got a fine, are you going to pay it?' And they just laugh in my face, throw the fine back in a box and say 'it's got nothing to do with me'."
Over the past 18 months, the BBC has conducted a wider probe into illegal working and criminality linked to some High Street businesses, including mini-marts and barbershops. The undercover reporter, who pretended to have a £45,000 illegal working fine, secretly recorded Yousaf saying he could transfer the penalty into someone else's name for a fee of £4,500. Yousaf has denied ever advising anyone to put a penalty into the name of someone not responsible for a business, or to give false information to the Home Office, and said he never would.
Yousaf told the BBC: "My work is to challenge penalties lawfully, through the routes Parliament has provided, usually on the basis that the person found was not an employee at all." He added that when the reporter proposed putting his business into someone else's name, Yousaf had told him in writing that he could not advance an untruthful or dishonest case and did not act for him. The government said "arrests and raids are at their highest ever levels and removals of illegal workers up 50%."
