Indian trio in UK's biggest visa scam

An Indian trio -- a solicitor and his two wives -- have been jailed in London for their alleged involvement in the biggest ever visa scam in the UK. A city court on Wednesday sentenced Jatinder Kumar Sharma, 44, and his second wife Rakhi Shahi, 31, for seven and eight years respectively for running a fraud firm called Univisas, where they helped hundreds of immigrants apply for visas using bogus documents and false identities.

The court also ordered that they be deported at the end of their sentences.

Another accused Neelam Sharma, Jatinder's first wife, was sentenced for four years.

"The conspiracy concerned a carefully planned professional organisation that continued for two years and would clearly have continued beyond that had the police not acted on what was a smart piece of investigative reporting," Judge McGregor-Johnson at Isleworth Crown Court said.

He said Sharma, who is still listed on the roll of solicitors in this country and possibly in India, was "completely unfitted to be a member of that profession". The judge hoped that his remarks would be noted by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority.

Police said all the three lived together in Clarence Street, Southall, west London. While Neelam Sharma married Jatinder about 20 years ago, another marriage certificate shows that he recently married Shahi.