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Indian student jailed in Australia in visa
scam
Tuesday March 27, 2012 09:51:22 AM,
Paritosh
Parasher, IANS
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Melbourne: A
Perth-based Indian student will spend 14 months in jail for his
involvement in a scam to falsify English test scores to get
Australian visas.
Rajesh Kumar, 31, faced ten charges for his part in fraudulently
altering the International English Testing System (IELTS) scores
at Perth's Curtin University between November 2009 and June 2010.
A Perth District Court sentenced Rajesh Kumar on Monday after he
pleaded guilty for changing the outcomes of IELTS test apparently
to get permanent residence in Australia.
Nine other persons have already been jailed in a scam to increase
the IELTS scores to get permanent residence in Australia. The list
includes Kok Keith Low, a Curtin University English Language
Centre employee who would be behind the bars for two years for
playing the key role in falsifying the scores for various, mostly,
Indian students.
Anyone achieving a score of a minimum 7.0 in four IELTS components
gets extra points in the skilled points test to get permanent
residence in Australia.
Rajesh Kumar was found guilty of taking a total of $32,000 from
three IELTS candidates applying for Australian visas. He kept
$14,000 for himself while giving remainder to an intermediary
Pritesh Shah. The latter paid some of this bribe to Kok Keith Low
who would then falsify the score at Curtin University's IELTS test
centre.
The former Indian student had earlier paid $5,000 to Shah to get
his own IELTS score changed to enable him to apply for an
Australian visa.
The investigation carried out by Western Australia's Corruption
and Crime Commission led to the conviction of ten persons
including Rajesh Kumar. In total, 73 charges were laid against 12
persons leading to fines of up to $20,000 and maximum jail of two
years given to the former Curtin employee Kok Keith Low who faced
15 counts of bribery.
A former Indian national (and Kok Low's flatmate) Abdul Kader was
sentenced for 18 months of imprisonment on 15 counts while Pritesh
Shah has been handed a one year's sentence.
Judge Jeremy Curthoys of West Australian District Court has,
according to The Australian newspaper, found Rajesh Kumar guilty
of compromising the integrity of Australia's migration program.
"It was greed - pure and simple," The Australian has quoted Judge
Curthoys as saying while handing down the sentence to the Indian
student.
Rajesh Kumar's sentence was backdated to November 2 last year when
he was arrested after arriving back in Australia from India.
(Paritosh
Parasher can be contacted at paritoshparasher@yahoo.com)
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