Illegal Indian fraudsters behind UK's largest visa scam

From ANI

London, May 7: Three Indian illegal immigrants are reported to be behind the biggest visa scam in British history.

According to The Telegraph, they were so confident of fooling the Home Office that one of them offered their services on a no win, no fee basis, a court has heard.

The three offered foreigners access to Britain for cash by submitting hundreds of bogus immigration visa applications in 18 months, all of which were rubber-stamped by the Home Office.

The gang ran a fraud factory creating thousands of counterfeit documents and enabling hundreds to cheat border control.

Between October 2006 and May last year, the company UniVisa - posing as a business legitimately helping would-be immigrants with their paperwork - submitted 980 applications to the Home Office, making what is thought to be hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Isleworth Crown Court in west London heard that ringleader Jatinder Sharma, 44, had pleaded guilty to a raft of immigration offences. Sharma's company provided its customers with fake degree papers, references and CVs to help them enter Britain illegally.

His alleged co-conspirators, Neelam Sharma, 39, and Rakhi Shahi, 32 - both of whom are married to Sharma - are facing a similar range of charges at trial. They are also both accused of entering and remaining in Britain illegally.

The trial continues.


Copyright Asian News International/DailyIndia.com