Foreign student jailed for document deception
Neal Hall,
Vancouver Sun
Published: Thursday, October 18, 2007
VANCOUVER – A foreign student has been sent to jail for two months after he was convicted of producing fraudulent documents in order to stay in Canada.
Earlier this month, Shihao Hupang was sentenced in Abbotsford provincial court after pleading guilty to one count of misrepresenting material facts pursuant to section 127(a) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
He was sentenced to two months in jail and fined $2,500.
The maximum sentence for the offence is is a fine of up to $50,000 and a jail term of two years.
Last April, Hupang applied to stay in Canada as a student. To support his application, he presented documents purporting to be his student transcript from Kwantlen University College and an acceptance letter from Simon Fraser University. Both documents were determined to be fraudulent.
Hupang later told authorities he had arranged to purchase these false documents for $3,000 from a person he'd found on the Internet. Hupang said he later met with this person at a SkyTrain station, where he exchanged the money for the documents.
The matter was investigated by the Canada Border Services Agency, which is responsible for prosecuting those who deliberately attempt to misrepresent themselves to CBSA or the Department of Citizenship and Immigration.
nhall@png.canwest.com
