NRI fined by UK court for trafficking

Swaraj Paul makes history: presides over House of Lords

NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul scripted history by becoming the first Asian to preside over the proceedings in the House of Lords, which co-incidentally witnessed an absorbing debate on Mumbai terror attacks and Sachin Tendulkar's match-winning century against England.

Participating in the 150-minute long debate on Thursday, Chairman of the UK-India Business Council Lord Karan Bilimoria congratulated Lord Paul on his appointment as the Deputy Speaker of the House and said that Non-Resident Immigrants in Britain were now reaching the top positions in every field.

Several Peers walked up to Lord Paul on assuming the high office as he sat on the woolsack, a large red seat stuffed with wool, at the front of the Lords Chamber. Lady Aruna Paul witnessed the proceedings from the special gallery.

Conferred the Peerage in 1996 and honoured with the Padma Bhushan by President of India in 1983, 77-year-old Lord Paul is one of the most famous Indian origin entrepreneurs based in Britain.

He is the founder of the multinational company Caparo, the UK-based steel and engineering group, with an annual turnover of 1.5 billion pounds.

Lord Bilimoria said that he thoroughly enjoyed the recent Chennai Test between India and England and was overjoyed when Sachin Tendulkar scored a century and India won the tie, Sachin dedicating the century to the people of India.

He said despite the recent terrorists' attacks and all India's challenges and complexities, these difficulties would not hold back India's "unstoppable momentum".

Hyderabad-born Lord Bilimoria commended India for its restraint in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai and said the attacks were not just an attack on Mumbai but an attack on the US, Israel and Britain.

[Source: Press Trust of India]

NRI fined by UK court for trafficking

An Indian-origin man, who was jailed for five years for human trafficking in April this year, has been asked to pay more than 3,00,000 pounds by a UK court.

The Leicester Crown court ordered Asif Patel, one of the six people convicted in January this year of smuggling illegal migrants from India into Britain, to pay the amount by January 31 next year, or face a further five years in prison.

Patel (32) owned a mobile phone shop in Bolton, and was jailed on April 21. At the confiscation hearing, Judge William Everade ordered him to pay back 3,03,368 pounds.

The court was told that Patel sent money to contacts in India who recruited the clients, using a money exchange bureau. Each of the illegal migrants smuggled into the UK reportedly paid around 8,000 pounds.

Besides Asif Patel, other members of the people smuggling gang were Sajid Bhikhi, Asif Bhikhi, Sikandar Patel, Soyab Patel and Sabbir Patel. They were sentenced to different terms of imprisonment.

The people smugglers forged or stole documents to bring Indian citizens illegally into Britain via South Africa, often on forged South African passports. Holders of the passports can enter Britain as visitors for a period of six months.

The investigation, which began in September 1999 after an illegal passport-making factory was discovered under a staircase in a house in Leicester, was led by Britain's Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and spanned several countries.

In some cases, after the Indian nationals were brought into Britain, they were then facilitated to travel to Canada or the US through the collusion of a corrupt official at the Heathrow airport in UK.

NRI fined by UK court for trafficking Swaraj Paul makes history: presides over House of Lords

NRI fined by UK court for trafficking

Swaraj Paul makes history: presides over House of Lords