A woman accused of faking documents in Melbourne’s biggest international student cash-for-certificates scam has been released on $100,000 bail.
Chinese born XiaoYi Huang of Carnegie faced Melbourne Magistrates Court accused of presenting fake documents on behalf of international students applying for skilled migration visas to Australia.
The petite and pretty 24-year-old allegedly tried to pass off false education qualifications, work references and skills assessments to the Department of Immigration on behalf of her clients.
She was arrested on Friday, and her Queen Street offices raided by members of the Australian Federal Police Identity Security Strike Team and federal immigration officers.
Huang was charged with five offences relating to sham visa applications, including possessing 75 blank templates, that were allegedly to be used to create bogus documents.
Huang appeared in court for a brief hearing, with an interpreter, before being granted bail, which was unopposed by the prosecution.
Magistrate Amanda Chambers released her on bail with a $100,000 surety, and a set of special conditions requested by the prosecution.
Huang was ordered not to interfere with prosecution witnesses except for her business partner. She was ordered not to leave Australia, to surrender her passport and not to apply for another, and not to be involved in the preparation of any visa applications.
She is due to face court again in February.
The Age Mex Cooper with Chris Johnston
Monday, October 26, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Friday, October 02, 2009
Safe Settlement Disbursements - NECS
Financial settlements in NECS will involve electronic transfers of cleared funds. Because settlement is fast and made with cleared funds, it is critical that disbursement payments end up in the right accounts. For disbursement payments to financial institutions, government agencies and even NECS, this is not a problem as the account details (BSB No. & Account No.) are known in advance and can be pre-set in NECS and verified before first use in a settlement.
However, when disbursement payments are to be made to the vendor or a nominee of the vendor whose identity and account details only become known during the transaction, special precautions are necessary to ensure the funds go to the right accounts. A slip keying in account details could mean that an unrelated party gets a sudden deposit of substantial cleared funds in their account. This risk has been identified as a major concern for many industry practitioners and a disincentive to use electronic conveyancing.
The way this risk is to be dealt with is that the Subscriber arranging the disbursement payment on behalf of their client is to have a number of options. They will be able to choose between:
• paying the funds into a pre-set Trust Account from which they can pay the recipient subsequently by cheque or electronic funds transfer
• setting up the recipient’s account details in advance and ensuring their correctness before using them in a settlement
• having the recipient’s financial institution confirm the account details prior to settlement.
The first of these options might suit when delayed receipt of the funds is not important. The second option might suit when the recipient is a regular client of the Subscriber and likely to be frequently receiving disbursement payments from NECS settlements.
The third option is the one likely to be used most often. The recipient will be required to contact their financial institution, be identified as the financial institution’s customer and advise the financial institution of the pending settlement. The financial institution will enter NECS and confirm the account details entered by the Subscriber so that at settlement the payment can be confidently made directly into the financial institution’s customer’s account. In the event that the receiving financial institution does not confirm their customer’s account details prior to settlement, the funds will be paid into a suspense account at the financial institution from where the intended recipient can claim them after being successfully identified by the financial institution as the account holder.
These arrangements will provide all users with the means for ensuring settlement disbursements end up in the right account and transacting parties with confidence that their monies won’t end up in someone else’s account for an unscrupulous person to make off with.
NECS newsletter Oct 09
However, when disbursement payments are to be made to the vendor or a nominee of the vendor whose identity and account details only become known during the transaction, special precautions are necessary to ensure the funds go to the right accounts. A slip keying in account details could mean that an unrelated party gets a sudden deposit of substantial cleared funds in their account. This risk has been identified as a major concern for many industry practitioners and a disincentive to use electronic conveyancing.
The way this risk is to be dealt with is that the Subscriber arranging the disbursement payment on behalf of their client is to have a number of options. They will be able to choose between:
• paying the funds into a pre-set Trust Account from which they can pay the recipient subsequently by cheque or electronic funds transfer
• setting up the recipient’s account details in advance and ensuring their correctness before using them in a settlement
• having the recipient’s financial institution confirm the account details prior to settlement.
The first of these options might suit when delayed receipt of the funds is not important. The second option might suit when the recipient is a regular client of the Subscriber and likely to be frequently receiving disbursement payments from NECS settlements.
The third option is the one likely to be used most often. The recipient will be required to contact their financial institution, be identified as the financial institution’s customer and advise the financial institution of the pending settlement. The financial institution will enter NECS and confirm the account details entered by the Subscriber so that at settlement the payment can be confidently made directly into the financial institution’s customer’s account. In the event that the receiving financial institution does not confirm their customer’s account details prior to settlement, the funds will be paid into a suspense account at the financial institution from where the intended recipient can claim them after being successfully identified by the financial institution as the account holder.
These arrangements will provide all users with the means for ensuring settlement disbursements end up in the right account and transacting parties with confidence that their monies won’t end up in someone else’s account for an unscrupulous person to make off with.
NECS newsletter Oct 09
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