A corrupt legal advisor of Indian origin has been ordered to hand over more than £ 2.45 lakh (around 2 crore rupees) or face another three years in jail for his conviction in an immigration racket.
Mike Ogram, from the UK Border Agency's west London criminal and financial investigation team, in a press note issued here, said that Ravi Gupta, 41, of Carlyon Road in Hayes was jailed for four and a half years in August 2011 after admitting 14 charges of assisting illegal immigration and one charge of obtaining leave to remain by deception.
Gupta, an accredited immigration law advisor, had supplied many of his clients with fake documents, letters, education certificates and pay slips to aid immigration applications, helping them to falsify details of their income. He would typically charge up to £5,000 for each application.
His scam was uncovered following an undercover investigation by the agency's team into the practices used by his company, Surge Global Solutions.
Gupta, an Indian national, was arrested during a dawn raid on his home in Carlyon Road, Hayes in
November 2010. During the proceeds of the hearing on March 2, a judge at Isleworth Crown court told him he has 6 months to give up £245,950 he was found to have made from the scam or he would have his prison sentence extended.
Gupta, an Indian national, was arrested during a dawn raid on his home in Carlyon Road, Hayes in
November 2010. During the proceeds of the hearing on March 2, a judge at Isleworth Crown court told him he has 6 months to give up £245,950 he was found to have made from the scam or he would have his prison sentence extended.
Ogram said, "Not only have we put this man behind bars, but we have also managed to strip him of a significant amount of money. Gupta was behind a sophisticated and organised criminal plot and I hope this demonstrates that we don't just want to put people like him in prison, but we will also find their money and stop them from benefitting financially from their criminality."
The west London ciminal and fnancial investigation team is a specialist unit of police officers seconded from the Metropolitan Police working alongside warranted UK Border Agency officers to investigate organised immigration crime.