News: Australian policeman admits to perjury in sham marriage case
A constable in the New South Wales police force has admitted to lying under oath in a police enquiry into staged marriages.
Senior Constable Hoan Thien Pham and his partner Bich Tuyen Kha, have been accused of arranging three staged marriages and of collecting large sums in return for misleading the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship into issuing residency visas. Senior Constable Pham took part in one of the marriages and Miss Tuyan Kha in the other two. They are alleged to have helped forge documents and stage wedding photos. After the apparently staged spouses had been granted residency visas, they had little further contact with them according to the reports.
During the proceedings today Constable Pham insisted that his marriage to a Vietnamese woman referred to as Miss Tran was a genuine relationship he had entered under pressure from his mother.
However, the court was then played recordings of intercepted telephone calls between Miss Tran and Mss Tuyan Kha, during which they reportedly talked about staging evidence and joked about deceiving the Department of Immigration.
When asked if he would like to change his evidence, Constable Pham asked for an adjournment. When he returned he admitted to perjury, lying to the Department of Immigration and forging documents.
He said:
“I want to say that I lied about the proposal…I knew Tran. She wanted to come here.”
The hearing continues.
Photo of Sydney Airport by Michael Coghlan under a Creative Commons licence
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1 Comment
John on October 31, 2012 at 11:46 am
“Miss Tran” and “Bich” – what unfortunate names!