An Indian-origin couple in Australia has been charged with arranging fraudulent marriages for Indian men to get them visas by paying the Australian brides over 4,000 dollars.
Australian women were allegedly offered upfront payments of up to 4000 dollars plus an ongoing 250 dollars per week by former migration agent Chetan Mohanlal Mashru and marriage celebrant Divya Krishne Gowda to marry Indian men whom they had never met, witnesses told the Brisbane Magistrates Court.
India-born Mashru and Gowda are each charged with 17 counts of arranging sham marriages for visas.
Mashru is also charged with 23 counts of influencing a public official and 19 counts of delivering false information.
Immigration official Robert Ansell, who investigated the marriages, told the court that they first became aware of the scheme after a newspaper article in April 2012.
Ansell said he had concerns about 40 to 50 visa applicants who had been married off by Gowda.
"It appeared as though it was an organised matter and not a series of one-offs," he said.
The immigration official, during investigation, approached the young women suspected of getting married for money and asked them to provide induced statements, the ABC online reported.
Three women gave evidence about their marriages.
During the hearing, a Queensland woman named Tahnee Edser admitted to entering an arranged marriage with an Indian man for cash, but said that she did not realise the extent to which she was breaking the law.
Another witness, Cortez Rudolph, 22, said she learned of the alleged scam via a friend who had herself participated in an arranged marriage.
"She asked if I was interested and at that particular time in my life, I know it doesn't sound very smart now, but I didn't think that I had any other option," she said.
The committal hearing is expected to wrap up by Wednesday.
