The UK Charity Commission has disqualified Ravinder Singh, a
trustee of a British Sikh charity and banned him from being involved in
any charity in future after he was found guilty of visa fraud and using the charity
as a front to bring Indian nationals to the country.
The Khalsa Missionary Society had been struck off from the charity register in February 2016 and it was revealed that 57-year-old had misused the organisation to facilitate the serious crime of immigration fraud.
The Home Office began a criminal investigation into charity, set up to advance the Sikh religion in the UK through prayer meetings and lectures, in 2004, prompting the commission to start its own investigation.
The Khalsa Missionary Society had been struck off from the charity register in February 2016 and it was revealed that 57-year-old had misused the organisation to facilitate the serious crime of immigration fraud.
The Home Office began a criminal investigation into charity, set up to advance the Sikh religion in the UK through prayer meetings and lectures, in 2004, prompting the commission to start its own investigation.
The visa scam took advantage of the UK’s generous policy
towards religious organisations wishing to sponsor ministers. Indian migrants
paid the Khalsa Missionary Society around £4,500 each to sponsor their UK visa
applications and work permits as religious ministers to be employed by the
charity.
In addition to the immigration fraud, funds were laundered through the “charity's bank accounts to give the appearance that the charity was receiving legitimate donations," the commission said in its report.
In addition to the immigration fraud, funds were laundered through the “charity's bank accounts to give the appearance that the charity was receiving legitimate donations," the commission said in its report.
"The inquiry concluded that there had been misconduct
and mismanagement in the administration of the charity. He had breached his
legal duties to protect the charity's assets by using the charity as a conduit
to commit immigration fraud," it adds.
The Commission's inquiry had found that Singh was only one active trustee in the charity and had removed him as a trustee in January 2016.
Theresa May, former Home Secretary and current British Prime Minister
The five-tier points based system for UK working visas, brought in by the last Labour government, was wide open to fraud and scams, as the Entry Clearance Officers (ECO's) were effectively stripped of their powers to veto a work permit decision.
When the hen Home Secretary, now Prime Minister, Theresa May took over the Home Office in 2010, she immediately set about closing down immigration schemes and visa appeal rights. The measures have taken many years to turn the 'immigration tanker' around and net migration has fallen slightly last year.
The last seven years has seen a raft of Immigration Rule changes and Acts, as the Conservatives attempted to reverse the more open door immigration policies of the Tony Blair administration under which around 5 million migrants came to the UK.
Mrs May raised the bar for working visas and brought in minimum income and English tests for foreign spouses, the legality of which was upheld recently in the Supreme Court following a legal challenge.
Brexit may herald a new era for a restricted EU immigration policy, depending on how the Article 50 negotiations develop, which is a worry for the estimated 3 million European migrants living in the UK.
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