Jail for CSCS Fraudsters
In a recent case heard at Luton Crown Court (Regina vs Biryah Biryah and Singh) the three defendants (Karmjit Biryah, Harnek Biryah and Tejpal Singh) were found guilty of forging CSCS cards in order to secure work for illegal immigrants and were given jail sentences of between three and a half and five and a half years each.
CSCS scheme manager Gordon Jenkins comments:
“CSCS takes the issue of fraud extremely seriously and worked in partnership with HMRC and the police in order to ensure that these attempts to deceive construction employers were dealt with severely.”
The case involved a range of illegal documents including forged passports. The forged CSCS cards were of a high quality and used the name and the CSCS number of a genuine cardholder. The only change on the card was the photograph which made the forged cards much more difficult to detect.
Gordon Jenkins added: “The introduction of the CSCS SmartCard early next year will make checking of cards much easier and will safeguard against this type of fraud.”
30th Sep 2009
ID: 1236
