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Illegal Indian immigrants convicted for biggest UK visa fraud
London:
Three illegal Indian immigrants have been jailed for their role in Britain's
biggest visa fraud. Jatinder Kumar Sharma, 44, and his two wives - Rakhi Shahi,
and Neelam Sharma - helped more than a thousand illegal immigrants into the country.
Out of them, only 41 have been deported, The Telegraph reports. 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." 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. 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, Univas submitted 980 applications to the Home
Office and raked in 1.5 million pounds in two years, charging around 4,000 pounds
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.
