Immigration fraud case back in appeal court

(CNS): Another former immigration officer who was convicted for fraud in 2019 in a bribery conspiracy trial has made an appeal against her conviction as a result of new information about the case. Kathy Ann Forbes (47) was found guilty of fraud on government in the case, which related to the English Language test for work permit applicants.

The conspiracy was that non-native English speakers were given a pass on their language test after paying $600 to those involved in the corrupt scheme. Forbes is now the second person to bring an appeal in this case, in which twelve people were originally charged.

A senior immigration officer at the time of the corruption offences, Forbes was given a two-year jail term but it was suspended for two years due to mitigating factors. She was said to have conducted just one test but was involved in the arrangements of others.

At the time of her sentencing, the trial judge had said Forbes’ involvement was the most difficult to understand because she did not appear to be motivated by financial gain but “just got caught up in the situation”, which the judge said illustrated how corruption “infects a workplace”.

But she is now hoping to challenge that conviction as a result of new evidence, which has not yet been detailed but appears to relate to the police evidence in the cases. Given the need for both Forbes’ defence team and the crown to review the new information, the case has been adjourned until one of the three Court of Appeal sessions in 2022.

Marcus Alexander, who is considered the ringleader of the conspiracy and is currently serving a four-year jail term, recently appealed against his conviction and sentence. However, the appeal failed. In a September judgment the appeal court found that allegations of jury bias were unfounded and that his jail time was warranted, given that he was found to be the ringleader of the conspiracy.