Reid accused of whitewash in 'illegal' cleaners row
Home Secretary John Reid has been accused of a whitewash over how illegal immigrants were employed as cleaners in his department.
Five Nigerians were discovered working at the Immigration and Nationality Directorate in May, including at least one who had been employed for three years.
At the time Mr Reid promised a full inquiry into how they avoided the department's supposedly foolproof vetting and security checks.
But last week Immigration Minister Liam Byrne quietly tried to draw a line under the affair.
In a statement issued while the House of Commons is on its summer holidays, he said: "The investigation into Techclean plc and its employment of cleaners at Becket House [the IND's headquarters] has been concluded.
"The Immigration and Nationality Directorate is satisfied that the company has acted in accordance with the requirements of section eight of the Asylum and Immigration Act."
The act makes it an offence to employ illegal immigrants, but Home Office sources said that the firm has been cleared because the five men had provided documentation which appeared to give them full employment rights. They were employed to clean computer equipment at the IND and would have been unsupervised.
Tory Shadow Immigration Minister Damian Green accused the Home Office of an attempted whitewash.
He said: "The problem of illegal workers is so acute that it has got through the door of the very department that is supposed to be dealing with it.
"This episode demonstrates how deeply flawed the immigration system is but instead of trying to deal with it, it appears John Reid is trying to sweep it under the carpet."
A statement from the Home Office said yesterday: "We have robust pre-appointment procedures in place to ensure that staff employed on our premises have a legal right to work in the UK."
But Home Office officials ignored all questions about how the men managed to beat those procedures, especially at a time when the department was supposedly on high alert because of the terrorism threat.
Officials said it was the responsibility of the department's sub-contractors, not the Home Office, to vet prospective employees.
