A private training college run by millionaire businessman and Wyndham councillor Intaj Khan has been fined for rorting the 457 working visa scheme.
The Western Institute of Technology has been penalised more than $10,000 and banned for three years from bringing over foreign workers on Australia’s skilled visa programs after authorities uncovered multiple violations.
Cr Khan, a Labor Party member and councillor for the City of Wyndham, is the director of the lucrative education company, which he founded in 2007.
He told Fairfax Media he had sacked the employee who was to blame for the “oversight” that led to the visa violations.
“I have taken action and sacked the staff member responsible,” Cr Khan said.
“It was an oversight, we have taken action and the situation has now been rectified. One of the [overseas] workers still works here and is very happy.”
One of the visa-holders was employed as an education adviser and the other as a marketing officer, he said.
The federal Immigration Department said it had conducted an investigation spanning several months and found the organisation forced the two 457 workers to repay part of their guaranteed annual earnings.
The organisation also gave the workers misleading information and failed to pay one worker their return travel costs within the required timeframe.
The Western Institute of Technology has more than 1000 local and international students at its campuses across Melbourne. In 2013, Cr Khan also bought the collapsed Mowbray College in Melton after it went into liquidation.
Cr Khan said he believed he had been the victim of “inter-staff politics”, in which employees had passed on information in a bid to tarnish his reputation.
“My staff knew I am a political party member and they have obviously passed on this information to have a go at me,” he said.
Assistant Immigration Minister Michaelia Cash said it was “vitally important” to maintain the integrity of Australia’s visa systems.
“This sort of conduct by sponsors will not be tolerated,” she said.
“Individuals who attempt to rort or defraud our systems will be targeted and penalised to the full extent of the law.”
This story first appeared in The Age
