Nigerian found guilty of sham marriage in UK.

• To be sentenced on July 20

A Nigerian has been found guilty of attempting to organise sham marriages in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom.




Abiola Abdul Kareem was arrested by UK Border Agency officers as he arrived for a wedding ceremony at Abingdon Register office in May, last year.
He had helped arrange the ceremony that was due to take place between Nigerian Idowu James Ojomu, 36, and 20-year-old French national Maria Deroff.
Kareem, 32 of Woodfarm Road, Oxford, will be sentenced on July 20.

Ojomu hoped to gain permission to live and work in the UK as a result of the marriage and in the months leading up to the ceremony he had transferred around £5,000 to Kareem, the UK Border Agency said.
Following his arrest, evidence of involvement in a number of other suspicious weddings was discovered.
At earlier hearings, Kareem had admitted four charges of assisting unlawful immigration, including a charge relating to the Ojomu marriage, and one charge of bigamy.
However, following a trial at Oxford Crown Court, Abdul Kareem was also found guilty on Monday of another count of assisting unlawful immigration and money laundering offences.
John Donachy, from the UK Border Agency, said: "Our main aim is to identify the organisers like Abdul Kareem, who profit from and fuel the demand for sham marriages and destroy their criminal business.
"We are working closely with registrars to identify marriages that may not be genuine, and where we suspect that may be the case we will investigate."
At previous hearings last year, Ojomu had pleaded guilty to charges of perjury and overstaying his visa. Deroff had admitted perjury and assisting unlawful immigration.
They were sentenced to 11 months and eight months.




Ojomu has since been deported.

Source : The Nation Newspaper