Christopher Aghalibe
Christopher Aghalibe, a 53-year-old Nigerian bus driver forged a British passport so he could live in a council house for more than a decade, a court heard.
According to Daily Mail UK, Christopher Aghalibe, 53, allegedly submitted the document along with his application for housing to the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham in September 2000.
The bus driver allegedly used a British passport in the name of Kehinde Osula when he was given a tenancy in 2004, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.
Fraud prevention unit officers finally attended his home in Wood Lane, Dagenham, on 10 August 2016, and he invited them in for a cup of tea.
Aghalibe claimed he came to London in 1990 but he often returned to his homeland to visit his sick father before his death, jurors heard.
When he was asked to attend an interview at the council offices later that day he arrived with a copy of the passport in the name of Onsula, it was claimed.
‘The way that the prosecution put the case is that, very simply, he knew he was not a British national and that he was telling a lie otherwise he would not be entitled to a council property,’ said prosecutor Nick Ham.
‘He had hoped he could dig himself out of a hole by going to the council office with the forged passport.'
Jurors were shown a copy of the falsified passport and the housing application form.
Describing the visit by anti-fraud officers to his home the prosecutor continued: ‘This was the day Mr Aghalibe had been asked to come into the council offices and answer questions.
‘The officers went to the property in the morning and and they asked him to provide identification.
‘He was not able to provide a British passport, instead he handed over a Nigerian one.
‘He was asked briefly to explain the discrepancy and he could not.’
Mr Ham added: ‘He then came to the interview and handed over a British passport.
‘The prosecution say that he was trying to fool the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.’
Aghalibe, of Wood Lane, Dagenham, denies one count of false accounting, one count of using a false instrument, one count of obtaining services by deception and one count of possession of a false identity document with improper intention.
The trial continues.
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