Thread: UK's Largest Visa Scam: Illegal Immigrant Guilty

Visa scam: Illegal immigrant guilty

Press Association, Wednesday June 3 2009

An Indian illegal immigrant has been found guilty of masterminding the single biggest visa scam ever seen in Britain.

Rakhi Shahi, 31, was convicted of conspiracy to defraud, handling criminal property and immigration offences at Isleworth Crown Court.

Her husband and criminal accomplice, disgraced solicitor Jatinder Kumar Sharma, 44, pleaded guilty to his role in the conspiracy before the trial.

A third woman, Neelam Sharma, 38, who may also be Sharma's wife, was convicted of handling some of the cash that poured into the business.

But the former teacher was cleared of conspiracy to defraud and immigration offences.

Jatinder Sharma and Shahi ran a fraud factory and hid behind a web of false identities and documentation. They created thousands of counterfeit documents including degree certificates, tax and wage forms, references and academic records.

The three, who lived together in Clarence Street, Southall, ran an immigration consultancy business known as Univisas. The enterprise was at the centre of a web of false colleges and corrupt employees of genuine institutions who provided bogus documents.

Police suspect more than a thousand people, the majority of whom came from the Indian sub-continent, used the business to cheat border controls.

The case included a barrage of criticism of officials at the UK Border Agency, Home Office and Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC).

It highlighted continuing fears that bogus colleges have been used as an illegal gateway into Britain for thousands.

Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2009, All Rights Reserved.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/feedarticle/8539172

Gang of illegal immigrants convicted of Britain's biggest visa fraud

A judge has condemned Britain's border controls as "woefully inadequate" as he jailed a gang responsible for Britain's biggest visa fraud.

By Murray Wardrop
Published: 5:39PM BST 03 Jun 2009

Police suspect that Jatinder Kumar Sharma and his two wives Rakhi Shahi, and Neelam Sharma helped more than a thousand illegal immigrants into the country but only 41 have been deported.

The trio became so confident in fooling government officials using false paperwork that Shahi, 31, even offered her services on a no-win, no-fee basis, jurors heard.

The three fraudsters, all illegal immigrants themselves, submitted hundreds of visa applications backed by bogus documents, which were rubber-stamped by the Home Office.

Jailing them for a total of 19 years, Judge Richard McGregor-Johnson said: "Various criticisms have been made of the actions of the agencies responsible for checking those documents.

"Those criticisms are plainly well founded in my view. The checks were woefully inadequate and frequently non-existent.

"You saw the weaknesses in those systems and dishonestly exploited them."

Working for cash under the company name Univisas, they ran a "fraud factory"creating counterfeit documents, including degree certificates, tax forms and CVs.

Between October 2006 and May last year it submitted 980 applications to the Home Office and raked in £1.5 million in two years, charging around £4,000 per client.

The enterprise, run from their home in Southall, London, was at the centre of a web of false colleges and corrupt employees of genuine institutions who provided bogus documents.

Prosecutor Francis Sheridan said the case presented a "damning indictment" of failures by the UK Border Agency, Home Office and Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner.

Home office employees failed to spot that employment certificates from across India were almost identical and that wage slips did not add up.

In some cases, students appeared to have attended two full-time courses simultaneously in a bid to boost their credentials.

The jury was also told that many people gave the same address and in one case an individual changed sex mid-application.

Mr Sheridan said it was "the biggest immigration scam ever seen in this country", adding: "Shahi was so confident of her ability to cheat the system, she even started offering her services on a no-win, no-fee basis."

Shahi was jailed for eight years after jurors found her guilty of conspiracy to defraud, handling criminal property and immigration offences at Isleworth Crown Court.

Jatinder Sharma, 44, a solicitor, pleaded guilty to his role in the conspiracy before the trial and was jailed for seven years.

Neelam Sharma, 38, was jailed for four years after being convicted of handling some of the money that poured into the business but cleared of conspiracy to defraud and immigration offences.

Most of those who used the scam were from India but around 150 were from Pakistan, raising fears of a possible terror route.

Thousands of people are suspected of obtaining student visas through a network of bogus education institutions in London, Manchester, Bradford and Essex.

Among those who used a similar scam were eight of the 10 Pakistani terror suspects arrested earlier this year during raids in Manchester and Liverpool and who now face deportation.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... fraud.html