The £550.000 Iranian Asylum Seeker

Sucking the Lifeblood out of Britain

If anyone was looking for a test book case example of how successive Labour and Tory administrations have betrayed the British people, then no better example can be pointed out than that of Iranian “asylum seeker” Massoud Montazery. He claimed to be penniless and fleeing persecution in his native Iran. But, in reality, failed asylum-seeker Montazery had £550,000 in the bank, wore designer clothes and drove top-of-the-range cars.

He had, quite literally, engaged in a vampire-like feast on the benefit system, preying on the good nature of the British people, assisted by the Government’s insane asylum policies. The 29-year-old conned benefits staff into paying him nearly £25,000 before his lies began to unravel. An immigration officer spotted him at the wheel of a Mercedes wearing expensive clothes with his wife in the passenger seat dressed in a fur coat.

He remains at liberty, however, to spend the fortune which is believed to have come from relatives. A judge at Liverpool Crown Court decided not to jail him, despite labelling him ‘dishonest’, or order his deportation. Instead, Judge John Phipps imposed a suspended jail sentence of nine months and ordered him to do 100 hours of unpaid work to be followed by a two-year supervision order.

Montazery was also found to be working illegally as a salesman for a babywear company. He had arrived in Britain with his wife in 2001 and claimed asylum. He alleged he had no nationality documents and was being pursued in Iran for belonging to an opposition party. His claim was rejected but he appealed. After telling immigration staff he was destitute, the couple were given income support and help with housing costs and other bills.

They moved into a house in Liverpool where their first child was born. Their second is due in April. Montazery’s appeal was turned down and the couple had to report regularly to the local immigration office. A worker there is believed to have tipped off investigators in 2005 after seeing him waiting outside in the driver’s seat of the Mercedes. Fraud investigators went to their terraced house in Walton and were surprised to see a Jaguar X-Type and a BMW in the run-down street.

Montazery, who asked them to remove their shoes so they did not spoil his new carpet, claimed one car belonged to his sister while the other had nothing to do with him. Expensive-looking ornaments dotted around the living room were being looked after for relatives, he insisted. Montazery also denied having a bank account. But investigators discovered that he was working and had two bank accounts containing more than £550,000.

Montazery was arrested and admitted two counts of making false statements to obtain benefits. In court, the judge told Montazery he had lied to the authorities, adding: “A huge amount of public money is spent on benefit, which comes from the public purse to which every taxpayer contributes.” Montazery has one previous conviction for using a motor insurance document with intent to deceive for which he was fined £250 in 2006.

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