Maravi

(NEWZIMBABWE) Zim BBC conman nabbed at Heathrow

Zim BBC conman nabbed at Heathrow
by
21/09/2009 00:00:00

A ZIMBABWEAN man was seized at London’s Heathrow Airport as he arrived from South Africa and charged with fraud.

Suspected fraudster Cephas Matanhire, 50, was on the police wanted list.
He was arrested by Teeside detectives on September 7 and appeared in court last Friday charged with four counts of fraud and one count of deception.

The charges relate to a Cleveland Police investigation from September 2007 when Matanhire, who shared an office with the BBC in Middlesbrough, claimed to help asylum seekers with their claims. A BBC report that year revealed him as a “complete conman in the same building as the BBC”.

Matanhire – once a respected figure in a church popular with Zimbabweans in Middlesbrough -- was secretly filmed talking to a BBC undercover reporter posing as an asylum seeker. The BBC said its undercover reporter was charged £150.

He was seen telling the reporter: “I do work for the BBC as well.”
Pressed to explain his relationship with the broadcaster, he said: “Yes I am a solicitor for the BBC as well.”

The BBC said Matanhire’s claims were “the first of a string of potentially criminal lies he committed in front of the undercover reporter.”

Matanhire is said to have joined the church and started posing as a solicitor. He took money, the BBC said, “from a number of asylum seekers”.

Colin Sibanda, the husband of one of Matanhire’s alleged victims, said he had falsified details on a Home Office form to try and strengthen her case.

And Matanhire was seen on the BBC report saying: “I have got to lie now, which is not good. But I have got to, I have to explain …”

Byron Rest, an immigration solicitor, described Matanhire’s behaviour was “very worrying”. He added: “He is preying on vulnerable, scared people. He is a charlatan.”

When Matanhire was confronted, he denied taking money from people or falsifying evidence.

It is believed he left Britain soon after the BBC report was broadcast and went to live in South Africa.

Labels: ASYLUM, BBC

posted by MrK @ 4:01 PM