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For full story and pics click on link below: http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2004472319,00.html Flats for cash scandal Wad ... De'Souza with rent money FULL NEWS INDEX By HARRY MACADAM AN OFFICIAL who helps give council homes to asylum seekers is secretly offering to rent flats to illegal immigrants for cash, The Sun can reveal. Crooked Aggie De'Souza, 65, drew up a tenancy agreement using a bogus name for The Sun's undercover reporter. He then offered advice on how to dodge immigration officials. Secret meeting ... our man with De'Souza Portuguese-born De'Souza, who earns around £20,000 a year, runs his scam from council offices in Sutton, Surrey. Last week he offered a flat to the Sun investigator - who posed as a Bulgarian illegal immigrant looking for accommodation. Our man, who jumped a queue of locals with housing problems, was handed a dingy one-bed flat for an up-front cash payment of £1,390. He was told the rent would be £695 a month. All bills would be paid by De' Souza. The official said: "I'll pay the council tax. Any bills you bring to me in my office." Here's the key ... The Sutton home is ours De'Souza, who works as an assessment officer for Sutton Council's asylum seeker support service, warned that Home Office officials frequently checked for illegals in the town. He added: "They're very hot in Sutton. No flat is safe but nobody will kick you out. "They always come at nine at night or in the early morning. I can come quickly and get you out." He then gave our reporter a tour of the flat in a quiet street minutes from the town centre. Bogus letting ... the flat in Sutton He was told: "For the time being we only take cash. I can't give you a contract because I work for the Home Office and you're illegal here." De'Souza told our man to sign an asylum seeker's tenancy agreement using the false name of Bledar Gashi. He then handed over the keys. Our dossier of evidence will be offered to Lib Dem-run Sutton Council. A spokesman said: "The member of staff in question has been suspended and we have started a full investigation." Police have also been informed.
