By Sylvia Nankya and agencies.
A Ugandan born Clergyman Rev. Canon John Patrick Magumba is being investigated in England amid claims he was involved in scores of bogus weddings to help illegal immigrants obtain UK Resident Visas, The Church of England Newspaper reports.
The Vicar was arrested in Britain's second major police investigation in as many years into sham marriages staged to help immigrants win residents' visas
Hundreds of Weddings he conducted are also being reviewed by the UK Border Agency and Greater Manchester Police. Investigators are examining claims that the churchman abused his position to marry illegal immigrants who had no legal right to remain in the UK, a statement issued by the Border Agency indicates.
A spokeswoman for the agency said: “The UK Border Agency arrested a 58-year-old man in Rochdale for questioning in connection with an ongoing investigation into sham marriages in the North West.
Magumba 58, is accused of failing to read out the banns that are designed as part of a safety net to make sure a marriage is legitimate.
The banns involve reading the names and addresses of those getting married during three separate Sunday services and are necessary to acquire a marriage certificate, according to the Anglican Journal.
Armed with their marriage certificates, the immigrants were then able to hoodwink the UK Home Office into giving them a visa, which allows them leave to stay in Britain as the ‘spouse’ of their bogus husband or wife and gives them full access to education, healthcare and welfare benefits.
Magumba is currently team vicar for the South Rochdale Team Ministry. He oversees three churches in the area – St Peter’s, Newbold, St Luke’s Deeplish, and St Mary’s, Balderstone.
According to the Church of England Newspaper, On March 13, the Archdeacon of Rochdale told the congregation of St. Peter’s Church in Newbold, Rochdale, that their Team Vicar, Canon Patrick Magumba, had been arrested and the rectory and church searched by officers of the UK Border Agency in connection with an investigation of sham marriages in the North West.
Canon Magumba has since been released on bail and will continue to help the authorities with their enquiries over the coming weeks, the Church of England Newspaper reports.
He has also been suspended on full pay as the UK Border Agency investigates the allegations.
Sham weddings involve EU citizens marrying non-Europeans so they can earn the right to live in the UK. In many cases, the bride and groom have never met and don’t even speak the same language.
Last year in a similar case, a vicar Rev Alex Brown was sentenced to up to four years in jail for conducting 360 fake weddings to help foreigners evade immigration regulations. Brown married hundreds of African men desperate to obtain permanent residency rights in Britain, to eastern European women who were paid up to £3,000 [Close to Shs12 Million]
Early this month, two clergymen Rev Brian Shipsides, 54, and the Rev Elwon John, 44, were charged following a sham marriages probe. They were alleged to have conducted around 200 bogus unions between EU and non-EU resident in their inner-city parish.
Another man Oscar Prata, 45, an Angola-born Portuguese citizen who had fixed a sham marriage was last month jailed for 3 years after admitting his role in setting up 2 bogus ceremonies at a Coventry church.
He was also recommended for deportation at the conclusion of his sentence.
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