A senior Home Office civil servant at Croydon's Lunar House has been handing out visas to illegal immigrants, a court heard this week. Aisha Ajia appeared at Croydon Crown Court after it was alleged that in six months she doled out 11 illegal visas.

Ajia has pleaded not guilty to 11 charges of misconduct in a judicial or public office.

The court was told the 44-year-old's alleged fraudulent activities came to light when one of her "clients", Kabir O'Balogun, was arrested in Merseyside in April 2005. He had a Nigerian passport and a UK visa issued from Lunar House. Angus Bunyan, prosecuting, said: "This was not spur of the moment, opportunistic conduct but rather pre-planned and carefully executed dishonesty.

"The fact that he had been granted leave to remain caused some surprise, because Home Office records showed that O'Balogun had previously been removed from the UK as an illegal entrant." A fingerprint check revealed that he was also known to the British immigration authorities by another name and had been arrested in that name for bank fraud in Belfast using a false passport.

Ajia, from Thamesmead, began working with immigration in 2001 and became an executive officer in the public inquiries office at Lunar House.

She worked as a desk supervisor and was responsible for dealing with referrals of unusual or difficult cases and compiling statistical records for monitoring purposes.

The court heard investigators began sifting through the cases dealt with by Ajia and found she had handled 11 cases in which visas were given to Nigerian nationals - none of whom had been granted leave to remain in the UK.

When arrested on March 22, 2006, Aija denied any wrongdoing, and claimed she knew nothing about how the bogus applications had been recorded as having been dealt with by her.

A search of her house brought to light a photo-cutter designed to punch out passport-sized pictures, the court heard.

The trial continues.