Now that t an Indian education agent accused of being at the centre of a scandal over fake Canadian college admission letters that has led to the deportations of more than 700 Indian students from Canada, will he help their cases or tell the truth that these students willingly bought the fake letters for thousands of dollars and now they are playing victims to cover up their own crimes to remain in Canada. On Friday, Canada Border Services Agency charged Brijesh Mishra, a citizen of India, with offering immigration advice without a licence and with counselling a person to directly or indirectly misrepresent or withhold information from authorities. He was held while trying to sneak into Canada. What will Mishra tell the Canadian authorities regarding the fake letters – will he take the full blame (not likely) or will be spill the beans that the students knew full well that the letters were fake and they were basically coming to Canada to find work and immigration through other means. Mishra’s arrest is most likely bad news for the international students facing deportations as their own parts of this criminal enterprise will be exposed as Canadian authorities already have evidence that the students did not do the things they needed to do once they found out that the schools they were coming to join were not genuine and the letters were in fact fake as they went on to do things that are contrary to things they would need to do if they were genuinely duped.

By PD Raj – Senior Writer DESIBUZZCanada 

With News Files

CHANDIGARH –Now that t an Indian education agent accused of being at the centre of a scandal over fake Canadian college admission letters that has led to the deportations of more than 700 Indian students from Canada, will he help their cases or tell the truth that these students willingly bought the fake letters for thousands of dollars and now they are playing victims to cover up their own crimes to remain in Canada.

On Friday, Canada Border Services Agency charged Brijesh Mishra, a citizen of India, with offering immigration advice without a licence and with counselling a person to directly or indirectly misrepresent or withhold information from authorities. He was held while trying to sneak into Canada.

Mishra, who runs an immigration agency in Jalandhar, went missing shortly before the scandal broke. Hundreds of students from Punjab and other states of India are allegedly staring at deportation due to the fake college admission letter scam.

Mishra was discovered to be inadmissible when attempting to enter Canada, leading to his arrest. He remained in custody until Friday, when charges were officially filed against him for his alleged role in issuing fraudulent letters of acceptance to prospective Indian students seeking admission to Canadian post-secondary institutions.

The charges against Mishra come in the wake of an international education scandal that has made headlines in Canada and India after a group of international students was flagged for deportation for allegedly using doctored admission letters to obtain their study permits.

Over 700 international students faced deportation due to suspicions of using altered admission letters to secure their study permits. The affected students, believed to be in hundreds, maintain their innocence, claiming ignorance about the doctored letters. 

They only became aware of the issue when flagged by border officials after completing their courses and applying for postgraduate work permits. Some cases even arose during the students’ permanent residence application process.

But recently, a Canadian court has upheld the initial deportations, citing that the students knew full well of the scam in relation to getting into Canada and therefore were a party to the crime and their deportations stand.

What will Mishra tell the Canadian authorities regarding the fake letters – will he take the full blame (not likely) or will be spill the beans that the students knew full well that the letters were fake and they were basically coming to Canada to find work and immigration through other means. 

Mishra’s arrest is most likely bad news for the international students facing deportations as their own parts of this criminal enterprise will be exposed as Canadian authorities already have evidence that the students did not do the things they needed to do once they found out that the schools they were coming to join were not genuine and the letters were in fact fake as they went on to do things that are contrary to things they would need to do if they were genuinely duped.

Immigration Minister Sean Fraser’s announcement last week vowed to halt the pending deportations of the Indian international students who assert they were deceived by Mishra and other unscrupulous agents. But he also said that Canadian agencies such as CBSA will make the final determination on every Indian student facing deportation.

“Our government is taking action against those who are responsible for fraud, while protecting those who’ve come here to pursue their studies,” Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said in a news release Friday.

 “I want to thank CBSA’s criminal investigators for their hard work protecting Canadians and those who hope to come here.”

The charges against Mishra were laid by the CBSA Pacific Region Criminal Investigations Section.

“Our officers worked diligently to investigate these offences and we will continue to do our best to ensure those who break our laws are held accountable,” said Nina Patel, regional director general responsible for the agency.

A new task force has been established by senior immigration and border enforcement officials to examine the specifics of each case to decide whether individual students were complicit in defrauding the system, reported Toronto Star.