Free Republic

Asylum rejects cost taxpayer £300m By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor (Filed: 19/07/2005) The taxpayer picked up a bill of more than £300 million last year to support failed asylum seekers who should have been removed from the country, spending watchdogs report today. The National Audit Office says most of this sum was spent looking after an estimated 18,500 families with dependent children who are entitled to continuing support until they leave the country. A further £285 million was spent to support the voluntary repatriation of some failed asylum seekers or to enforce the deportation of others. The number removed...

Lebanon recovers £300m of Saddam's stash Lebanon's central bank has located and secured £307 million in Iraqi funds, a Treasury official said. David Aufhauser, general counsel in the Treasury Department, said the disclosure by Lebanon was a sign of the progress being made in the worldwide search for Saddam's assets. Aufhauser told the House Financial Services oversight subcommittee that the assets in Lebanon apparently came from Iraq's central bank and other sources. The United States has stressed that all recovered assets will be used to help the people of Iraq and rebuild the country. Much of the money was taken...