LONDON An Algerian asylum-seeker involved in a multimillion-pound fraud is to be released from prison after the Home Secretary admitted that he cannot be deported.

Malik Madani, 38, has been detained since November 2004 while officials attempted to reach an agreement with the Algerian Government to return him to his home state.

The Algerians have refused to take him and, as there is no real prospect of his “imminent removal”, the Government can no longer lawfully hold Madani in detention.

Madani, who entered Britain illegally in 1992, will pursue a claim for damages against the Government for holding him unlawfully when there was no real prospect of his being deported.

The Home Office has refused consistently to release him until now, arguing that there was “an extremely high risk” that he would abscond.

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