A FORMER high flying Cairns businessman Sukhwant Sona Singh Bhela has been jailed for setting up a visa scam to exploit disadvantaged people wanting to move to Australia.
The Cairns District Court was told Sukhwant Sona Singh Bhela lured poor people from the Punjab region in India to come and work in Australia, charging each $50,000.
“I accept you set up a very substantial operation for profit,” Judge Brian Harrison said.
The Cairns District Court was told that Bhela set up a sophisticated visa scam and lured immigrants, lied to immigration authorities, provided false documents and coached one man in what to say on entering the country.
The visa scam spanned about three and a half years between Jan 2006 and June 2009 and involved 43 applicants.
Bhela is the accused kingpin of a visa scam for Indian migrants to illegally live and work in Queensland.
Scores of Indians and their families allegedly paid tens of thousands of dollars for fake documents and falsified qualifications under the illicit racket.
They flew to Brisbane and Cairns to live, work and obtain permanent residency using fraudulent papers on the Skilled Migration Scheme, it is alleged.
Bhela initially denied allegations and the matter went to trial, where he was found guilty by a jury of 97 offences.
His offending included asking for or receiving a fee or reward for giving information assistance, for misrepresenting himself as a registered migration agent and asking for or receiving a fee, for providing false or misleading information relating to non citizens and counselling or procuring false or misleading information in relation to non citizens.
During the trial Bhela had maintained that he’d not asked for a few and had just done it as a charitable service.
Bhela was jailed for 3½ years with a parole eligibility date set at halfway.