In September 2008 Mr. George Ling, a Sydney businessman, was sentenced in the District Court to five years and five months imprisonment in relation to his involvement in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the Commonwealth. The charges related to an immigration conspiracy which resulted in 110 foreign nationals being granted Australian citizenship where they did not meet the criteria.
From 1995 to 2000, Mr. Ling was involved in a criminal enterprise with Mr. John Moon who was an employee of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship at the time. In June Mr. Moon was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment in relation to his role in the scheme.
Mr. Ling, an Australian citizen, targeted foreign nationals living in China and Hong Kong. The foreign nationals paid consultancy fees to Mr. Ling ranging from $10,000 to $200,000. During this period Mr. Ling collected over $1,000,000 from foreign nationals. Of this amount, he spent about $119,000 on overseas trips for Mr. Moon and his family, including trips to North America and Asia.
Mr. Moon’s role in the scheme was to ensure that the citizenship applications were granted. In some cases, applications were lodged one day and granted the next. In other cases, applicants completed their citizenship interview in just three minutes. None of the files included the documents necessary to support the citizenship application.
Mr. Ling and Mr. Moon were convicted following a lengthy investigation by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship and the Australian Federal Police. That investigation resulted in the department strengthening its procedures for decision-making on applications for citizenship in order to minimise the possibility of future corruption.
All of the 110 foreign nationals who obtained Australian citizenship were permitted to retain their citizenship. This was because there was insufficient evidence to demonstrate that their applications were fraudulent or that the applicants had knowledge of the conspiracy.
Australian citizenship can only be revoked in a limited number of circumstances. Revocation can only take place in accordance with the Australian Citizenship Act 1948 (Cth). At the relevant time, the Act only provided for the revocation in very limited circumstances such as:
- where the applicant was convicted of fraud in relation to his or her citizenship application (for example, by making a false or misleading representation);
- where the applicant acquired citizenship as a result of migration-related fraud; or
- where the applicant committed a serious offence against an Australian or a foreign law involving a sentence of 12 months or more, prior to the approval of their citizenship application (provided that the person would not be rendered stateless by the revocation of Australian citizenship).
In 2007 the Commonwealth Government amended the Australian Citizenship Act 1948 to allow for revocation of citizenship acquired as a result of third-party fraud. While instances of such corruption are rare in Australia, should similar events take place in the future, the Commonwealth would have the authority to revoke the citizenship of the foreign nationals who benefited from fraudulent activities carried out by third parties such Mr. Ling and Mr. Moon.