Alias came to our attention during a wider BBC probe into illegal working and criminality linked to some High Street businesses, including mini-marts and barbershops.
His name was mentioned in social media videos, including on Kurdish Facebook pages, where business owners in the UK praised his ability to resolve problems linked to immigration fines.
For months we monitored these videos, which carried Alias’s name, that of his law firm, Liberty Solicitors, and a mobile phone number. Some had more than 20,000 views.
In one, a Kurdish-speaking shop owner explained that, after having been issued with a penalty for employing an illegal worker, he had “tried two or three different places to get it sorted but nobody could resolve it”.
He went on to say that “Mr Alias” had got the fine cancelled – showing a letter as evidence.
Alias told the BBC he had not commissioned, paid for, approved or circulated videos on social media.
Our reporter contacted Alias on the phone, claiming to be a business owner who faced a fine after immigration officers had found somebody working at his mini-mart illegally.
There was no actual shop, worker, or fine.
During the call, which we recorded, Alias told our reporter his services would cost 10% of the fine – in this case, £4,500 – and he would want money up front.
Alias explained how liability for the fine could be shifted to somebody outside the UK, if that person could be named as owner of the business.
“Do you have anybody’s name who we can use? Anybody who’s gone back to Iraq, gone back to Iran?” he asked.
He then offered a fictitious example: “Say we put forward Karwan, yeah? Then fine come on Karwan’s name. Karwan not here, Karwan in Iraq.”
What Alias appeared to be proposing was the use of a “ghost director” – in other words, someone who is paid to put their name on official documents, thereby masking the real owner of a business.
Using ghost directors is a widespread illegal practice, the law enforcement official told us.