The article below is from the Indian Express. The allegations are disturbing. It is unclear which types of visas are involved in the alleged fraud in connection with Canada, though it appears that the financial documents relate to students.
Police to detail immigration fraud to foreign embassies - Indian Express
Police to detail immigration fraud to foreign embassies
Majid Jahangir Posted online: Mon Aug 22 2011, 02:58 hrs
Chandigarh : Healthyway’s modus operandi: Issue fake loan letters, take advantage of officials
The unearthing of immigration rackets from the region has brought forth the way these dubious firms were cheating both the candidates as well as the embassies and Chandigarh police have decided to write to various foreign embassies in New Delhi explaining the modus operandi of the fraud.
Police sources said during questioning of prime suspect Amit Kakkar, director of Healthyway Immigration, who is in the police custody for cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy, revealed that they were taking advantage of embassy officials who at some places were not cross-checking the facts that were submitted by the firm for sending youth to UK, Canada, Australia and other countries.
“Once the candidates used to submit the financial documents through the firm for immigration, the embassy official would not check with the bank officials whether the sanctioned money was a credit or a debit loan. Besides, the embassy officials would also not check whether there was any money in the bank account of the candidate after the loan letter was issued. At places, fake loan letters were issued by the banks which were never cross-checked,” said a police officer, who is part of the Special Investigation Team.
“We will be writing to the foreign embassies in New Delhi through a proper channel explaining the modus operandi of the company and how scores of youth and embassy officials were being cheated by the company,” the officer said.
The SIT has so far found over 200 financial documents to be fake. The role of various banks in the region is also under scanner, as in many cases the loan letters had been issued without depositing money in their account.
Every applicant who wants to study abroad, has to submit the financial guarantee documents to various embassies.
“We are verifying each and every document that we recovered from the company office. We are also in touch with the Regional Passport Office, as we have recovered certain passports and we are checking their genuineness. We have also issued an LOC (Look Out Circular) as the other directors of the company are absconding,” SIT head and Deputy Superintendent of Police Anil Kumar said.
To return Certificates
Chandigarh police have decided to hand over genuine certificates recovered from the office of Healthyway Immigration to those who had submitted them to the company for immigration purposes. The police said the certificates will be provided to candidates after proper verification.
The Case
The immigration racket was unearthed after British Embassy in New Delhi informed Chandigarh police that an immigration company based in the city was issuing fake bank guarantee and documents for immigration. It was after this input that Chandigarh police raided Healthyway Immigration, a Sector 42-based company, office and sealed it. Police have registered seven cases against the company and nearly 60 complaints are also being probed by them.
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