A SELF-styled Asian community leader is facing jail after admitting his part in a worldwide multi-million pound fake-marriage racket.

Ismail Purbhai was part of an illegal marriage and immigration operation which was based in Blackburn and stretched as far as Bombay .

British citizens were said to have been paid up to £7,000 to marry abroad and then return to the UK with their new bride or bridegroom.

Purbhai, of Dartford Close, Blackburn, was said to be a well-known figure in the Asian community in Blackburn, Preston Crown Court was told.

The successful prosecution was today welcomed by deputy Mayor of Burnley, Coun Rafique Malik, who said illegal marriages were something the whole Asian community abhorred.

Mr Malik said: "It is a matter of shame for anybody involved in illegal practices and it is more a matter of shame that somebody from the Asian community has been involved in something which the whole Asian community abhors.

"The more people like this who are exposed and dealt with is better for the community at large and for race relations."

At a hearing at Preston Crown Court, Purbhai, 52, pleaded guilty to four charges of securing and facilitating leave to remain in the UK by deception.

He had originally denied any involvement and pleaded not guilty, claiming he had been "stitched up".

He now faces jail although sentence was adjourned by the judge until the end of a trial of two others who have pleaded not guilty to similar charges.

The two others, both from Blackburn, will face a jury in August on charges of securing and facilitating leave to remain in the UK and securing illegal entry into the UK for various people between 1995 and 1999.

The trial, which will be held at Preston Crown Court, is expected to last two weeks.

Purbhai was named in a Sunday newspaper over claims that illegal immigrants were paid up to £7,000 to marry women who had assumed a different identity just for the service.

The newspaper claimed that the racket involved charging illegal immigrants for the weddings, which involved women who assumed the identities of dead or expatriate women.

Several venues were used for the racket, including register offices in Blackburn, Chorley and Preston, the paper said.

In September 1992, Purbhai was fined £400 by magistrates in Leyland for producing leaflets accusing Blackburn MP Mr Straw of "hating Muslims," urging people "not to vote for Mobster Straw."

Former Lancashire County Council leader Louise Ellman won £10,000 in damages after Purbhai made similar claims about her.

Following the guilty plea a Home Office spokesman said: "The government takes very seriously all attempts to circumvent immigration laws and that includes those arranging sham marriages.

"The government welcomes all successful prosecutions taken out against those involved in these practices."