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Bribes Taken To Approve Australian Visas
An official from the Department Of Immigration and Boarder Patrol (DIBP) was found guilty for taking bribes that totaled over $500,000AUD.
A Brisbane court found that DIBP official Alex Escala Allan from May 2013 to April 2014 took $563,290 AUD in bribes allowing 59+ foreigners into Australia. This included the man’s girlfriend and son who like him originally resided in the Philippines.
This immigration bribery case is the biggest of its kind in Australia and led to an 8 month prison sentence for Mr Allan. The offences based on court documents occurred when he was promoted to a managerial position (in an acting role) allowing him to abuse the senior computer access he had. This provided him the opportunity to view outstanding cases and approve visas within them.
DIBP officials discovered the scam after two Vietnamese officials were granted visas despite the fact they had poor English. The visas they had applied for like a 457 visa had a minimum english requirement for all applicants.
A DIBP spokesperson announced that changes have already occurred to prevent manages in future to approve applications from start to finish. This means that different staff much be part of a visa approval process to ensure checks-and-balances exist.
Most visas granted incorrectly by Mr Allan are yet to be traced while Allen has paid back most of the funds he made from the bribes received.
