3 NRIs convicted in UK visa scam

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

3 NRIs convicted in UK visa scam

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.

His wives, Rakhi Shahi (left)
and Neelam Sharma, ran a fake visa factory that helped at least 1,000 immigrants enter Britain on false documents

Most of the so-called students who entered Britain on bogus visas procured by the trio are still here. They include around 150 from Pakistan, raising fears of a possible terrorist route to Britain. The modus operandi involved a network of bogus colleges in London, Manchester, Bradford and Essex.

Confident trio

All three lived together in Southall. Neelam Sharma married Jatinder Sharma nearly 20 years ago, but a marriage certificate shows that he also recently married Shahi.

The threesome was so confident of hoodwinking immigration officials that they offered a money-back guarantee to any customer denied a visa.

Passing sentence, judge Richard McGregor-Johnson said the accused had exploited "weaknesses" in the system for checking documents.

"The checks were woefully inadequate and frequently non-existent," he added.

In a secret recording the court heard a member of the gang boasting that Home Office officials "don't even bother to look" at visa application documents to check their authenticity. They "just stamp them blindly".

The prosecution alleged during the month-long trial, "The Home Office system was designed to operate with trust. The evidence shows it was nau00efve in its conception and in total shambles."

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