Pakistani politician got paid £1,000 a month in UK benefits
A prominent Pakistani politician has been receiving British state benefits to which he was not entitled while living in a palatial home in Karachi.
As the governor of Sindh province in Pakistan, Dr Ishrat-Ul-Ebad Khan lives in a mansion in the state capital while being waited on by servants and chauffeured in Mercedes limousines.
Yet, while enjoying the perks of his position, Dr Khan was for 10 months the recipient of money from the benefits system, including income support worth about £1,000 a month.
Taxpayers also funded the £244-a-week rent on a house in north-west London, that Dr Khan keeps as a base for his family in Britain. His wife, Shaheena, also received benefits because she had been diagnosed with a "stress disorder". Extra money was added to allow for Dr Khan, who did not have a job, as her full-time carer.
Last night Andrew Dismore, the Labour MP whose Hendon constituency includes the house rented by the Khans, called on ministers to launch an immediate inquiry. Mr Dismore, a former member of the Commons Work and Pensions select committee, said: "I would be very surprised if the rules allowed this."
Danny Alexander, Liberal Democrat spokesman on work and pensions, said: "A system that allows mistakes such as this to occur is clearly not working." When confronted by The Sunday Telegraph, Dr Khan, who has four children, admitted receiving benefits to which he was not entitled since taking up his position as governor three years ago but insisted that he had paid back the money. There has been no further claim since October 2003.
Dr Khan, who trained at Sindh Medical College in Karachi, came to Britain in 1992 as an asylum seeker. Following the acceptance of his asylum claim in 1999, Dr Khan was entitled to a range of British benefits. He and his family have been living in a pebble-dashed semi-detached corner house in Edgware, a north London suburb since 1997. In May 1999, they began claiming income support, which also entitled him to other payments, such as housing benefit.
Dr Khan said that he had repaid a matter of "a few hundred pounds" but he was keen to make sure any money that might still be outstanding was reimbursed. "If anything has been done, even inadvertently, I would very much like to rectify it. But in our opinion we have not tried to misguide or mislead.
Pakistani politician got paid £1,000 a month in UK benefits - Telegraph