A SENIOR British diplomat accused of granting a visa to 30 illegal immigrants including his Filipino lover has told a court he did everything by the book.

Sharad Ladva, 45, of Vicarage Street, Warminster, admitted fast tracking a ten-year visa for a notorious conman but insisted he knew nothing about the applicant's dubious credentials. The senior official is accused of giving the green light to a string of dodgy applicants while working as an entry clearance manager in Manila, Philippines.

He denies two counts of misconduct in a public office between February and November 2002. Giving evidence at Southwark Crown Court, he said: "I was not suspicious because the applications were backed up by documents."

Asked about a visa application submitted by a conman named Opulencia and granted by Ladva, the defendant insisted he had not spotted that the supporting documents were fakes.

Opulencia, who was later convicted of offering an illegal visa service to unwitting Filipinos, purported to work for the locally well-known Ayala Theatre Company. Ladva admitted that mistakes were down to a change in working conditions.

He said: "At about this time we were very busy indeed because it was the summer holidays.

"We also had one staff member off sick and another had left which meant we were under-staffed. "The climate during that period was also quite rocky. Murders were taking place on a regular basis in the area."

He added that new regulations had recently been introduced. The court has heard how several young people were fast-tracked for visas on the false basis that they were high ranking business officials working for oil giant Shell.

  • Trial continues.