Story By: Ana Marjanovic, Sub-Editor: Michael Leidig, Agency: Newsflash
A Russian actress who faked it as a Ukraine war refugee to get to a billionaire’s birthday party in South Africa has been deported from the country.
Scheming Ieva Andrejevaite, 34, filed an asylum claim when was stopped from entering the country on 28th April because she did not have a visa.
Instead, she told immigration officials at Cape Town International Airport she was a refugee of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
But her secret emerged when she was photographed hob-nobbing with VIPs at a party hosted by billionaire investor Rob Hersov.
Andrejevaite had arrived in South Africa on the plane of Soviet-born British-American business magnate Len Blavatnik, who is listed by Forbes as the 20th richest person in the world.
All passengers on the jet had been flown in to attend a joint birthday party held for Hersov, 60, and his wife Kate, 40.
After getting into the country, the actress also failed to report to any refugee reception centre over the following five days, as stipulated in the terms and conditions of her asylum claim.
When the actress was done partying, she lodged an application with the Department of Home Affairs asking for her passport back so she could leave the country.
She also withdrew her asylum claim.
But the Western Cape High Court on 2nd June ordered Andrejevaite to apologise to the Home Affairs Minister, officials from the Department of Home Affairs and the South African people, not only because she had failed to report to a refugee reception centre but also because officials had discovered the reason for her claim was bogus.
In her humiliating apology, she said: “I was looking forward to entering South Africa and enjoying my time here, and as such, I was wrongly advised to allege that I was an asylum seeker and applied for an asylum transit visa.”
She went on: “This was clearly wrong and an unlawful way for me to try and enter South Africa.
“In doing so, I realise that I have caused great stress and have insulted this country, the Department of Home Affairs and its officials.”
Andrejevaite was processed for deportation on 5th June and banned from visiting South Africa for the next five years.
