Immigration nabs agents over use of fake receipts

THE Immigration department has referred to police two visa agents who allegedly produced fake bank deposit receipts to lodge visa applications.
Chief Migration Officer Solomon Kantha said in a statement that they had been doing it for some time, “cheating immigration and making money from unsuspecting clients”.
“We will continue to track down agents who dishonestly and fraudulently produce false receipts to obtain our service.”
Kantha said one of the accused had given a bank deposit slip for K5000 to a man from New Ireland who wanted to lodge a visa application.
The man was queried by immigration officials about the payment and later handed over to the police in Gordon.
Further interrogation led to the arrest of the second visa agent.
Kantha said fraudulent cheque payments by visa agents since Nov 2017 now totaled nearly K100,000.
“We will be working closely with the Department of Finance to track these payments. It is likely that a bank officer may also be involved to facilitate these receipts.”