British colleges defrauded by consultants: Pakistani students may face deportation

Several Pakistani students in Britain may face deportation because of the "financial fraud" their consultants in Pakistan allegedly committed with their foreign educational institutions. Nothing but money is the sole reason that poses a career-risking threat to some 65 Pakistani desperate students who are faced with a situation to go nowhere in London College of Computing and Management Sciences (LCCMS).
"We are stuck up here in extreme despair. The college asks us for the fee, which has not been forwarded to them by our consultants in Pakistan," Aziz-ur-Rehman, a student of LCCMS told Business Recorder from Stratford, East London. According to details, Professional Consultants (PCs), Pakistani consultant of the 65 troubled students of LCCMS, has defaulted on at least £79,750 (Rs 11.0693 million) on account of student fees.
Besides defrauding the British education institutions, the Pakistani consultants are also said to have cheated their clients (students) by charging each of them with £250 "extra" in the name of college "registration fee". That amount was charged in addition to Rs 20,000, consultancy fee of the PCs.
Hasan Nadeem Naqvi, Director of LCCMS, told Business Recorder from London that as per agreed terms the PCs was to forward the fees, totalling around £145250, to the LCCMS, as soon as the British embassy issued visas to the applicants. The PCs had so far forwarded only £65,500 to the LCCMS in the form of telegraphic transfers and demand draft, but was yet to pay the remaining £79,750, he claimed.
According to LCCMS head, many Pakistani students in other British colleges are also facing the same future-threatening problem. "If their fees are not cleared then unfortunately... approximately 65 students from Pakistan would be deported by (the) UK Boarder Agency (UKBA) which would be a great intellectual and reputational damage for our nation," Naqvi, who has a Pakistani origin, expressed fear.
He went on to say that after expulsion the UKBA as per British laws was likely to slap a 5 to 10-year entry ban on the dismayed students, who had got admission abroad in different academic disciplines for 2010 session after thrusting their entire intellectual and material resources into the process.
According to Naqvi, because of non-payment of fee his college was unable to register the students for the exams, which are due in the fast approaching May. "The other shocking news is that they have received extra £250 from the students on behalf of the college as registration fees," the director of LCCMS claimed. He claimed that at least five Pakistani students, including Farooque Naqi, Afaq Azhar, Mohammad Saad Varaich and two others, had voluntarily flown back to Pakistan to avoid any future risk.
Enraged over what he said the "financial fraud", Naqvi warned that if their concerns were not allayed the British education institutions would approach the British High Commission to impose complete ban on Pakistani students in the United Kingdom for a couple of years, at least.
"(Due to such fraudulent cases) the colleges and universities in Britain... (may decide) that we won't let any student landed in UK from Pakistan," he added. Naqvi told Business Recorder that he had referred the matter to the Federal Intelligence Agency (FIA) and would mobilise the Pakistani civil court against the "fraud" consultants as a last resort.
In a telephonic conversation from LCCMS, Aziz-Ur-Rehman told Business Recorder that he, along with over 60 other students hailing from different cities of Pakistan, was "feeling insecure and disturbed" in Britain because of the fraud their consultants had committed with their college.
The student of management sciences said he like many of his fellows in LCCMS had invested a huge amount in getting admission in the UK to get higher and quality education, but "the opportunity seems to have turned into a difficult challenge for us". However, when contacted, Basit, one of the directors of PCs, denied outright that he had any such row with the LCCMS regarding the fee issue. "We have made complete payment (to the LCCMS) for which we possess all proofs," he claimed.
It may be mentioned here that whereas the management of LCCMS has provided Business Recorder with all relevant evidences in support of its claim, the same is lacking in case of the PCs. The college has also provided a list of the 65 troubled male and female Pakistani students. The PCs claimed that his side had received no such complaint or a claim for any outstanding fee from their partners in the UK. About the students' voluntary homecoming from Britain, Basit viewed that "they may have personal reasons, as no student has come to us so far with such compliant".