Rt Hon Baroness Scotland of Asthal, PC, QCThe Attorney General's Office20 Victoria StreetLondonSW1H 0NFBY FAX 020 7271 2434 AND POST17th September, 2009Dear Baroness Scotland,

Regarding the Employment of your HousekeeperLoloahi Tapui

I am writing in regard to your employment of Loloahi Tapui and this morning's revelation in the DailyMail newspaper that she had overstayed her visa and subsequently was working illegally untilyesterday.It seems inappropriate to us that as the most senior law officer in England and Wales,whose time at the Home Office included responsibility for the amendments to the 2006 Immigration,Asylum and Nationality Act, you appear to have completely bypassed this very legislation despitevoting for it in the House of Lords.The law on preventing illegal working in the United Kingdom is quite clear and although Section 8 of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996 had an amendment for new European Union accession countriesadded on 1st May 2004, the law for those outside the European Union remained the same.Indeed asa citizen of Tonga, a former British colony Miss Loloahi Tapui applied for a student visa in 2003 whichentitled her to work legally, but her application a year later was turned down and she was told to leavethe United Kingdom.This would mean she would have had no legal paperwork. As you well know, it isa requirement under Section 8 of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996 for all new employers to check

and copy

all necessary paperwork.If you are unable to produce, today, copies of the documents that Ms Tapui passed to yourself, asrequired under the Act, in order to prove she was legally able to work in the United Kingdom we will bereporting you directly to the United Kingdom Border Agency under the procedures you yourself havespecified in the legislation.

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