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'Sophisticated' immigration fraud crime nets couple £470,000

Published on 21 Jan 2010 under category: legal

A Chinese couple has been jailed for forging university certificates enabling illegal immigrants to stay in the UK.

Haiyang Liu and his girlfriend Jiao Wang sold fake diplomas and degrees under the name E-Fly Education that were convincing enough for them to claim student visas for hundreds of Chinese 'students' from the Home Office.

Immigrants may have also used the fake qualifications to secure jobs in their home country.

The pair is estimated to have made at least £470,000 fraudulently. City of London Police also found bundles of money hidden at E-Fly's Isle of Dogs headquarters.

There were also thousands of blank certificates that could have faked admittance to over 75 universities, including London and Bristol.

Mastermind of the scam Liu, 29, was jailed for three years and nine months and Wang, 26, was given 13 months for her role as the company's 'secretary'.

The judge, Mr Recorder Stephen Gee QC, said: "The fraud you have been engaged in has been one of some sophistication and has been a fraud on the UK government and others.

"It involves a large number of different cases in which individuals have behaved fraudulently."

Detective Inspector Perry Stokes, who headed the police investigation, described Wang and Liu as "extremely well-organised criminals" without "respect for the law or for the UK educational establishments that they targeted".

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