3 NRIs convicted in UK visa scam

Updated On: 05 June, 2009 07:55 AM IST | | Khalid A-H Ansari

An Indian-born solicitor and his two wives behind Britain's biggest visa scam have been jailed for offences including conspiracy to defraud, immigration offences, money laundering and deception

An Indian-born solicitor and his two wives behind Britain's biggest visa scam have been jailed for offences including conspiracy to defraud, immigration offences, money laundering and deception.

Forty-four-year-old Jatinder Kumar Sharma and Rakhi Shahi (31), one of his wives who is herself an illegal immigrant, ran a fake visa factory that helped at least a thousand immigrants (some put the figure at 4,000) enter or stay on in Britain on visas issued on the basis of bogus documents and false identities.

Crooks: Jatinder Kumar Sharma

Neelam Sharma (38), who also claims to be Sharma's wife and lives with Sharma and Shahi, was convicted of handling some of the u00a31.5 million (Rs 11.4 crore) which their immigration consultancy business, known as Univisas, fraudulently earned.

The conviction came on Wednesday following an operation by police and UK Border Agency (UKBA), which found 90,000 documents during a raid on two warehouses and Univisas last February in Southall, east London, where many Indian immigrants reside.

The documents included 980 visa application files, false university certificates, academic records, bank statements and pay slips

The operation led to what has been described as the biggest investigation into organised immigration fraud and the discovery of an international criminal network stretching to the Indian sub-continent.