THE Home Office has denied losing any documentation related to the case of a British Army lance-corporal refused a visa to bring his teenage daughter from Kenya to his home in the Highlands.
We revealed exclusively yesterday how the casework for Denis Omondi’s daughter Anne could not be found by civil servants in Home Secretary Sajiv Javid’s office.
Omondi is with the Black Watch, 3 Scots, based at Fort George, has served in Afghanistan and Iraq and wanted his 14-year-old daughter to join him and his wife Shelagh at their Highland home.
His MP Drew Hendry spoke to staff in Javid’s office earlier this week, and after being passed to their internal immigration team was told they couldn’t find their own correspondence with their own reference number.
READ MORE: Home Office lose Scots soldier's visa paperwork for daughter
It prompted a terse exchange between the SNP MP and Scottish Secretary David Mundell in the Commons yesterday.
Hendry said it had taken four weeks from his initial contact with the Prime Minister and Home Secretary – who assured him the case would be reviewed – and still the family still had no answers.
“I am now advised by the Home Office that the family’s paperwork has been located and that the review is under way but they could not give any indication of how long the review would take,” he said yesterday.
“The Secretary of State for Scotland has now added his name to that list of Government ministers who have promised to help and I will be writing to both he and the Home Secretary to seek an urgent meeting to ensure Denis and his family get the justice they deserve.”
In a statement to The National early this afternoon, a Home Office spokesperson said: “No documents relating to Mr Omondi’s application have been lost.
“We are in contact with Mr Omondi about his case, which is being reviewed, and it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.”
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