Revealed: the asylum tycoon

A multi-millionaire is at the centre of an inquiry into a missing three-year-old boy. Joginder Sanger and his family own the hotel where Rossi Matuvovo disappeared, in a case that has raised new fears about child trafficking in London. Scotland Yard has no idea where the boy has gone, but detectives believe he is being hidden somewhere in Britain within the Angolan community.

The boy's plight only came to light when a man claiming to be his father was arrested trying to board a Eurostar to France on false papers.

The hunt for the child has centred on the run-down Thornecliffe Hotel, next to the M4 in west London, because the man, named by police as Fernando Matuvovo, claims he left him there in a creche. The case of the missing boy has reawakened

concerns about the welfare of children being brought from Africa to Europe, after the death of Victoria Climbie and the unidentified boy known as Adam whose decapitated torso was found in the Thames in

But the latest episode has also highlighted the way asylum seekers are housed and monitored by immigration officials in London.

Inquiries by the Evening Standard have revealed that the owners of the Thornecliffe Hotel were paid an astonishing £4 million of taxpayers' money last year to house asylum seekers at their bleak 400-room establishment.

The Thornecliffe is used by the Immigration Service as emergency accommodation for asylum seekers, but hundreds stay there in cramped conditions for months while the overstretched service deals with their claims.

It is a world away from the lifestyle enjoyed by the Sanger family, who have a ?4.5 million home in Hampstead, with two Mercedes, a convertible Jaguar and a Lexus four-by-four in the drive. The hotel is a cornerstone of the Sangers' business empire which extends to property, travel agents and insurance in Britain and India. The family - Joginder, his mother Sunita, son Girish and sister Reema - also own the four-star Washington Hotel in Curzon Street, Mayfair, where the 171 rooms offer guests "a discreet blend of classical styling with the best of modern amenities".

Last year, the family reported more than ?11million gross profit from three main businesses - the Thornecliffe, the Washington and property interests.

Yet their holding company, Mastcraft Ltd, has paid no tax in Britain for the past two years despite an income of ?19million last year. Challenged by the Standard to discuss his business and the case of the missing boy, Mr Sanger refused to comment and ignored numerous phone calls.

However, Sunita Sanger, a director of the family company, told the Standard she was not concerned with the missing boy's welfare. She said: "How am I supposed to keep track of every single little thing that happens down there? I am not interested."

When the Standard went to the hotel, we found crowds of men, women and children of different nationalities mulling around bored and listless.

Groups of young men from the Congo stood drinking lager; shouting aggressively while children as young as three played in the grubby corridors.

The facilities in the hotel amounted to one TV in a room furnished with a tatty sofa. The only other area for socialising was a dirty corridor. Two 20-year-old men from Pakistan told of their dreams to make it in Britain and a 25-year-old man from Burma who had arrived that day said he had risked everything to get there and missed his family terribly.

They said the average time it takes for the Home Office to process their claims is three months, but some said they had been there for seven. "It's so boring here, a lot of people drink to get away from it," one resident said.

Another added: "Quite often people get upset and argue and shout."

Residents complain the building is overrun by cockroaches and some showed the bite marks on their arms they claim were caused by bedbugs.

Jean Candler of the Refugee Council said: "The Home Office has chosen to have accommodation supplied by private providers who will always make money," she said. "The money available to cover the cost of housing them per head is very small.

"We do not work with the owners of the Thornecliffe so cannot comment on the level of service, but anyone who supplies accommodation to asylum seekers should ensure they are providing the best service they can."

Asylum seekers are entitled to basic accommodation, funded by taxpayers, while their claims are investigated. They have their bills paid and receive a subsistence allowance paid at 70 per cent of the basic level of income support. Many are dispersed to other parts of Britain.

The Home Office said private firms wishing to provide housing have to meet minimum standards and take part in a bidding process to ensure value for money. Some hotel-owners and landlords face the axe as the Government seeks to cut surplus places. A Home Office spokesman insisted that the Thornecliffe was "more than suitable, given the shortterm nature of any resident's stay there".

At first, dealing with Rossi Matuvovo was a straightforward immigration case. The boy had been travelling with the man claiming to be his father from Angola to Rome, with a stop-over in London. But when they arrived in Italy, they were sent back to Heathrow because they did not have the correct documentation. The pair were dealt with by immigration officials and placed in the Thornecliffe Hotel.

However, the Immigration Service realised they had lost touch with the boy two weeks later when Fernando Matuvovo was arrested trying to travel to France. He was alone and claimed he had left the boy in a creche at the hotel, but no one at the hotel had seen Rossi that day and the creche was closed when he was supposed to have been left there. Police believe the boy is still in this country and have appealed for help in tracing him. Thousands of children are smuggled into Europe every year, many forced to work as thieves or prostitutes.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Rossi should call 020 8247 6224 or the National Missing Persons Helpline on 0500 700 700.