The number of Ghanaians in the UK said to be among immigrants involved in sham marriages in that country is the highest.

A Press Association report says a former immigration officer has made claims that government officials turned a blind eye to the scandal of hundreds of illegal immigrants wedding in sham marriages.

The official, Neville Sprague, 56, described as a whistleblower alleges that he was sacked by the UK Border Agency (UKBA) because he insisted on investigating crimes that his department did not want recorded in their statistics. He is taking the agency to a tribunal where he is claiming unfair dismissal, the report said.

He was reported to have told the Daily Mail that the shams involved West Africans, mainly from Ghana. He was reported as saying these people pay more than £10,000 to marry a British citizen who would also be paid up to £7,000 to take part

He said: “I amassed evidence of bogus weddings but my managers just did not want to know. They were really keen for me not to investigate. They kept saying, ‘It’s not that bad’. I said: ‘Yes it is!’.”