A FORMER legislative councillor and a senior barrister are among 15 personalities who are set to fly to London this week to give evidence against a barrister accused of running a multi-million dollar passport scam. London police declined to identify the witnesses other than to say that they were all 'wealthy' and due to take the stand against British lawyer Paul Samrai. Samrai, an immigration consultant originally from Warwick, first appeared in a British magistrates' court in November 1992 on charges of obtaining British passports by deception for which he charged just under $1 million per client. The lawyer, who volunteered to return to London from Hong Kong and was arrested on arrival at Heathrow airport, is jointly accused with solicitor James Walker, 46, of Reading. At the time, he claimed he was 'only exploiting loopholes in the law' and that he would embarrass the British Government during his trial. A detective with the New Scotland Yard said: 'Samrai is due to appear in Southwark Crown Court on September 26. 'There are 15 witnesses, including someone from Legco, doctors, lawyers and businessmen, coming from Hong Kong to give evidence. 'They are all wealthy people.' The witnesses, when interviewed by Hong Kong police during the investigation, said they paid their money in good faith, unaware of Samrai's alleged illegal activities. Samrai is alleged to have used fake papers to obtain about 30 passports from the Home Office in exchange for up to $944,000 from each client for themselves and their families. In an interview with the Sunday Morning Post in England in November 1992, Samrai claimed he was innocent and that he was capitalising on business opportunities linked to the Chinese takeover in 1997. 'I believe loopholes in the law have been exposed as a result of my prosecution which the Foreign Office will want to plug extremely quickly. 'I was extremely surprised to be arrested. As far as I was aware, what I was doing was entirely legitimate. 'But I am over 18 and responsible for my own decisions. I only hope the British Government will be embarrassed by the publicity,' he said. 'It is the loophole in the system which enabled me to supply passports in the first place.' Samrai, 36, came to Hong Kong on June 8, 1990, and worked for a company called Opportunities UK (Hong Kong) Ltd. During this period, the lawyer is alleged to have committed the offences by falsifying documents for passport applicants, saying they had lived in the UK for five years before January 1981. when British nationality rules changed.
