Astonbrook is one of the UK's biggest asylum accommodation providers, alongside 8 others including the Angel Group and Clearsprings. Back in April 2006, the Birmingham-based company gained a five-year Home Office contract to provide asylum seekers with temporary accommodation on behalf of the National Asylum Support Service. Since then, it has received almost £20 million from the Home Office through the City Council. The charity, which is owned and run by a group of Somali migrants, runs properties in the Midlands, South West, Wales and Yorkshire. Soon after it was set up in 2002, Astonbrook was awarded charitable status by the Charity Commission, which meant it could lobby for public grants not available to entirely private companies.

Astonbrook was awarded the multi-million contract despite the fact that its chief executive, Mohammed Arwo, formerly ran another leading 'refugee support organisation', the Birmingham-based Midland Refugee Council (MRC), which collapsed in 2005 despite receiving £1.5 million a year from the Birmingham City Council alone. At the time, the Council Cabinet member for housing was Tory councillor John Lines. He allegedly ordered an inquiry into what went wrong at MRC but, to date, the only probe carried out has been by the Charity Commission. Mr Lines still holds the same position today.

West Midlands Police raided two offices belonging to Astonbrook Housing Association in Highgate and Erdington on Wednesday dawn (11 July, 2007). They also raided two separate businesses, Outlook Property Services Limited and Gabal Houseware and Language Services Limited, both of which have offices on Stratford Road, Sparkbrook. Police also swooped on several homes, where five men and two women were arrested, including Astonbrook's chief executive Mohammed Arwo. The suspects were questioned for most of Wednesday before being released on bail until late November. Detectives will now spend months examining the seized items (computers, documents etc.) but, judging from previous cases, many doubt anything serious will come out of it or the Home Office will improve its asylum accommodation policy.

Police had been called in to investigate Astonbrook weeks before after the Home Office and Birmingham City Council raised concerns about "how their millions were being spent." Both had carried out their own checks to verify the existence of Astonbrook clients. Early inquiries had cast doubts on 2,000 names. However, before the raids a decision was taken at government level not to withdraw funding or shut down the charity, allegedly "in order to protect genuine asylum seekers."

It is also worth mentioning that the Charity Commission, in a rare move, has sent in senior officials to take over the running of Astonbrook following the raids. The regulatory body is carrying out its own inquiry and has now appointed an interim manager to "protect and safeguard the charity's assets".