Muhammad Bashir & Others [2019] EWCA Crim 1229

Nayyar pleaded guilty to conspiracy to facilitate breaches of UK immigration law, Bashir was convicted of two similar counts and Nallamothu convicted of one. Nayyar was sentenced to 27 months’ imprisonment, Bashir was sentenced to 6 years’ imprisonment and Nallamothu to 24 months’ imprisonment suspended for 2 years with a curfew for 5 months.

The three were involved in an abuse of the Home Office Tier 4 Migration Programme by selling “confirmation of acceptance to study” (CAS) at two colleges at which no education was to be offered. Bashir set up a “college” and was granted a sponsor licence, within 14 months of the licence it had become a sham college. With Nallamothu he chose to sell the CAS allocation without providing any education, applicants were able to apply for a student visa supported by confirmation of a place to study at Bashir’s college. Nayyar was the managing director of a different college where she alone was authorised to use the Home Office system, she was selling her CAS allocation to Bashir. Bashir then moved to using assumed identities to manipulate the Home Office database and “sold” the college to an assumed identity to distance himself from the fraudulent scheme. This resulted in the son of the assumed identity being arrested by officials who believed he was part of the conspiracy. The overall picture was that 955 CAS had been sold by Bashir’s college and 352 by Nayyar’s, the proceeds being around £650,000.

Bashir’s sentence was quashed and substituted with one of 8 years, Nallamothu’s to 4 years’ imprisonment (reduced to 3 years 11 months on a discretionary basis to take account of the time on curfew) and Nayyar’s also to 4 years.