LOVE CHEAT FACES JAIL
A MUSLIM scholar who secretly divorced his disabled wife is to be put behind bars.
Khalil Kazi, of Warwick Road, Batley Carr, was found guilty by a jury at Leeds Crown Court of forging his wife's signatures on divorce documents and swearing in court that they were legitimate.
Judge Scott Wolstenholme told Kazi, 39, to expect a prison sentence when he is sentenced tomorrow for perjury and perverting the course of justice. Prosecuting, David Hall said Kazi, an imam, had obtained the divorce unlawfully by filling out the divorce documents, or getting someone else to do it for him, and intercepting the post so his
wife, Meimuna, had no idea what was happening.
Mr Hall said he did it so he could marry younger and healthier Moroccan national Bouchra Laaroussi, and still retain access to Mrs Kazi's 850,000 compensation from the NHS, which she won for negligence.
The jury heard that Kazi's solicitor brother, Saieed, had helped complete the divorce forms.
Mr Kazi, a legal advisor at Leeds Magistrates' Court, claimed his brother had filled in the forms in a "scruffy" way so he had offered to copy them out more neatly.
He said: "Khalil approached me to tell me he had obtained the forms, and asked if I would look over them for him. I work in a court and know how forms should be completed and how clear and neat they should be.
"Khalil's forms were not clear. I copied out his forms, making only cosmetic changes, and sent them back to Khalil to sign them."
Mr Kazi said his brother was adamant the forms had been seen by Mrs Kazi.
But Mr Hall told the jury Mr Kazi was a named beneficiary of his sister-in-law's compensation and had helped his brother with his divorce so he could keep a "finger in the pie" of the money, which he had helped her claim.
He said Kazi, an educated and respected member of the Muslim community, who gave national lectures, would not need someone else to fill in divorce documents for him.
The court heard Kazi, a community faith development officer for Kirklees Faith Forum, was granted his divorce in April 2005, but Mrs Kazi found out only when she went start her own proceedings the following year.
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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