Mohamed Bouzalim raked in £66,000 a year claiming to be para- lysed from the waist down until immigration officials saw a video of him dancing at a wedding.
He was due to be sentenced yesterday but the hearing was adjourned because his interpreter had gone on holiday to Turkey.
Razi Shah, defending, claimed the sentencing could not go ahead despite the fact that his client had lived in the UK for 10 years, was studying for a PhD and had an MA degree.
Bouzalim, 37, who arrived in court in a wheelchair flanked by nurses, claimed asylum under the name Mohamed Amir Hussini in 2001. He said he was an Afghan fleeing persecution and his father had been killed by the Taliban.
Although suspicions were raised and his application rejected, he was allowed to remain in the UK because it was unclear where to deport him to.
Bouzalim, his parents and siblings were arrested in 2010 in Kilburn, north-west London
Using a false identity he spent years raking in thousands of pounds in benefits claiming he was virtually paralysed and in need of 24-hour care.
A Border Agency investigation discovered he had brought members of his family to the UK, four of whom were being paid as “carers”.
Bouzalim, his parents and siblings were arrested in 2010 in Kilburn, north-west London, where officers discovered a video of him dancing in Morocco in 2009.
Reading a letter from a psychiatrist from Three Bridges Hospital, where Bouzalim is currently being held, Judge Simon Oliver said: “He is described as a malingerer.
“Malingerers are persons who delib- erately pretend to have an illness or disability in order to obtain financial or other gain or otherwise evade responsibility.”
He added it had taken a year and a half for the case to reach sentencing due to Bouzalim’s “apparent, alleged, possible ill health”. The judge said he would “take steps” against the inter- preter, who was needed to translate into the North African Berber language.
Bouzalim pleaded guilty to 11 charges of dishonesty. His sister Zahra, 41, and two brothers Rachid, 35, and Abdullah, 39, admitted fraud and will be sentenced later.