Maharjan v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection
[2017] FCAFC 213
At a glance
Source factsCourt
Federal Court of Australia (Full Court)
Decision date
2017-12-15
Before
Mortimer JJ
Source
Original judgment source is linked above.
Judgment (10 paragraphs)
Background 3 Insofar as the facts underlying the appeal need to be considered, they are not controversial. The first appellant, Ms Maharjan, applied for a student visa on 11 March 2013. The criteria which Ms Maharjan needed to satisfy at the time of decision on her application included the criteria set out in cl 572.224(a) of Sch 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth). Located within that clause was a requirement that a visa applicant satisfy public interest criterion 4020 (PIC 4020), which is set out as item 4020 of Pt 1 of Sch 4 to the Regulations. 4 Relevantly, PIC 4020 provided: (1) There is no evidence before the Minister that the applicant has given, or caused to be given, to the Minister, an officer, the Migration Review Tribunal, a relevant assessing authority or a Medical Officer of the Commonwealth, a bogus document or information that is false or misleading in a material particular in relation to: (a) the application for the visa; or (b) a visa that the applicant held in the period of 12 months before the application was made. ... (3) To avoid doubt, subclauses (1) and (2) apply whether or not the Minister became aware of the bogus document or information that is false or misleading in a material particular because of information given by the applicant. (4) The Minister may waive the requirements of any or all of paragraphs (1)(a) or (b) and subclause (2) if satisfied that: (a) compelling circumstances that affect the interests of Australia; or (b) compassionate or compelling circumstances that affect the interests of an Australian citizen, an Australian permanent resident or an eligible New Zealand citizen; justify the granting of the visa. (5) In this clause: information that is false or misleading in a material particular means information that is: (a) false or misleading at the time it is given; and (b) relevant to any of the criteria the Minister may consider when making a decision on an application, whether or not the decision is made because of that information. 5 As we have noted, Ms Maharjan submitted her visa application on 11 March 2013. Her spouse, the second appellant, was also included in the same application form as a secondary applicant. The third appellant, the son of the first two appellants, was born in November 2013 and subsequently added to the application. The applications were submitted through a migration agent. As part of the visa application form itself, Ms Maharjan was required to answer a number of questions. One of those questions was: Do you have access to sufficient funds to support you and your family unit members for the TOTAL period of your stay in Australia (including proposed tuition costs for you and any school aged family members, living costs and costs of fares, regardless of whether your dependants intend to accompany you to Australia)? 6 Ms Maharjan answered yes to this question. She was then asked to make the following declaration: I certify that the information provided on or with this form is correct. 7 She answered "yes" to this declaration. 8 A number of documents were sent to the Department together with the appellants' application form. These included certificates from the University of Ballarat and an academic transcript of Ms Maharjan's results from the University of Ballarat, and a medical certificate. Also attached were statements of money transfers from Nepal in relation to Ms Maharjan, which identified the "ordering customer" as her mother, and the "ordering customer's address" as a location in Nepal. A receipt from the Westpac Banking Corporation in relation to that transfer was also attached, as were some bank statements from the Commonwealth Bank. Further documents from Nepal, such as Ms Maharjan's school leaving certificate were also attached. 9 On 12 March 2013, one day after the application form was submitted, an officer of the Department wrote to the appellants' migration agent seeking further information. The request included the following: Financial Requirements Please provide evidence that you have sufficient funds to support yourself, and any family members accompanying you, for the first 24 months of your stay in Australia, or for the duration of your course of study, if that is less than 24 months. 10 The communication went on to explain the amount of funds of which Ms Maharjan was required to provide evidence. It also explained that financial support could only be provided by "eligible family members" for the purposes of satisfying this criterion. 11 The communication then stated: All applicants must demonstrate at least a 3 month saving history of their funds. The savings history is calculated for the 3 month period immediately before the lodgement of your application on 11/03/2013. 12 The communication contained a number of other pieces of information about how Ms Maharjan could go about supplying sufficient evidence, which need not be set out here. Ms Maharjan was also advised about the steps she needed to take to complete health assessments. All the matters drawn to Ms Maharjan's attention, and that of her agent, in this letter were relevant to satisfaction of the criteria necessary for the grant of the visas sought. 13 By an email dated 21 March 2013, the appellants' migration agent replied to the delegate's request attaching a number of documents. The agent stated: Please find the attached documents as you requested in your email dated 12 March 2013. Attached documents are as follows. 1) Bank statement page 1 2) Bank statement page 2 3) Balance certificate from Nabil Bank 4) Relationship certificate 5) Financial support statement letter from sponsor 6) Medical and X-ray done receipt of applicants. 14 The two bank certificates were issued by the Nabil Bank in Nepal, or at least purported to be. Ms Maharjan's mother provided the financial support statement the delegate had required. 15 The next communication from the delegate occurred on 9 July 2013. In that communication the delegate invited Ms Maharjan, through her migration agent, to comment on information obtained by the delegate. The delegate informed Ms Maharjan that he had information suggesting she had provided or caused to be provided a "bogus document or false or misleading information" in relation to her visa application and accordingly that she, along with her spouse, may fail to satisfy PIC 4020. 16 The delegate stated: As part of your Vocational Education and Training Sector (subclass 572) visa application, you were requested to provide evidence of sufficient funds to support yourself and any family members during your stay in Australia. In response to this request you provided, amongst other documents, a Bank Statement from Nabil Bank in the name Ganga Maharjan, account number [redacted]. This bank statement was referred to an Immigration Office overseas for verification. An Immigration Officer spoke to a representative from Nabil bank who verified the savings account number [redacted] in the name of [redacted] and present balance is [redacted]. He further provided following information about the account: - Account opening date as 20/12/2012 (verified twice). - Residential address: [redacted] - Contact number of account holder as [redacted] The account statement provided by the applicant is from 22 August 2012 whereas the account opening date is 20 December 2012. All the transactions were checked and following information was obtained: - Initial deposit was [redacted] till 17/03/2013 whereas the applicant's statement shows the funds as [redacted] which was verified as fraudulent by the bank. - Bank verified that the account had a maximum balance of [redacted] in April 2013 with a deposit of [redacted] as cash and subsequently withdrawn by the account holder on numerous occasions. The Immigration Officer then called the account holder [redacted] (Sponsor) and she verified that she is sponsoring her daughter in Australia. She was asked about the funds and she stated that she is unaware about the account details but she verified that [redacted] is available in the account. She was asked what the account opening date is and she verified that the account was opened 5 or 6 months back. She was asked if the account was opening in mid of last year (2012) and she stated that account was opened in December 2012 or January 2013. Whilst the bank has verified that the funds are available, the bank statement provided by the applicant or sponsor is fraudulent. Also, the bank manager and sponsor verified that the account was opened in December 2012 whereas the account statement is from August 2012. It is implausible that the account statement is generated before opening the account. Also the transactions were verified and they also differ. Therefore the bank statement provided is considered to be non-genuine. [Identifying and personal information redacted.] 17 We note, because a contrary proposition assumed some prominence in the Minister's submissions, that the delegate considered the documents supplied by the appellants' agent on 21 March 2013 had been supplied "As part of your vocational Education and Training Sector (subclass 572) visa application…" We return to this at [108]-[111] below. 18 Although the figures have been redacted, it is the case, as the appellants' counsel noted in submissions, that on the information provided by the Nabil Bank and despite the alleged fraud, Ms Maharjan's mother held sufficient funds over the required period to satisfy the visa criterion in any event. 19 The delegate's decision was made on 20 May 2014, a considerable time after the submission of the documents by the appellants. Consistently with the invitation to comment extracted at [16], the delegate found that Ms Maharjan did not satisfy PIC 4020 because the bank statements provided by the appellants' migration agent to the delegate in support of the visa application were, in the delegate's opinion, fraudulent. There was on any view a clear basis for that finding, enquiries having been made by staff at the Australian High Commission in New Delhi of the bank in Nepal. The delegate concluded (in language identical to that contained in the invitation to comment): Whilst the bank has verified that the funds are available, the bank statement provided by the applicant or sponsor is fraudulent. Also, the bank manager and sponsor verified that the account was opened in December 2012 whereas the account statement is from August 2012. It is implausible that an account statement was generated before opening of the account. Also the transactions were verified and they also differ. Therefore the bank statement provided is considered to be non-genuine. 20 The appellants sought review of the delegate's decision in the Tribunal, by way of an application made on 22 May 2014. In that review, the appellants made two substantive arguments before the Tribunal. The first was that the Tribunal should be satisfied that the appellants met the PIC 4020 criteria, and the second was that if the Tribunal was satisfied they did not meet those criteria, it should waive the requirements in PIC 4020(1) as the Tribunal was authorised to do by PIC 4020(4). 21 The Tribunal rejected both arguments. In its reasons, it set out the findings of the delegate about the fraudulent nature of the bank statements and, we infer, adopted those findings. The Tribunal recounted the explanations given at the hearing before it by Ms Maharjan and her adviser concerning the bank statements. At [10]-[11], the Tribunal recorded the claims made by Ms Maharjan, incorporating information provided by her mother from Nepal, to the effect that the mother had hired an agent in Nepal to arrange for the provision of the bank documents and that agent had acted fraudulently in providing false documents. In a submission to the Tribunal, the appellants' agent claimed the mother had complained and the Nepalese agent was under investigation by "the concerned authorities in Nepal". 22 The Tribunal made no findings of fact on Ms Maharjan's claims that she and her mother had been innocent victims of a fraud perpetrated by the Nepalese agent. Rather, the Tribunal found (at [12]-[13]): The Tribunal emphasised that PIC 4020 applied if an applicant has given, or caused to be given to the Minister or an officer of the Department a bogus document or information that was false or misleading in the context of a Student visa application; and that this applied whether or not the document was provided by the applicant knowingly or unwittingly. Further, the Tribunal noted that the fact that the applicant's compliance with visa conditions, such as completing a course and being able to meet the financial requirements for the visa applied for, was not relevant to this review. The issue before the Tribunal was whether the she [sic] had given or caused to be given, in respect of the visa application which is the subject of this review, a bogus document or information which was false or misleading, which the applicant had confirmed she had. The applicant said she understood this. Based on all the evidence before it and the considerations and reasoning above, the Tribunal finds that there is evidence that the applicant has given, or caused to be given, to the Department a 'bogus document' (as defined in s.97, see attached) and 'information that is false or misleading in a material particular' in respect of the visa application which is the subject of this review. 23 The Tribunal then proceeded to consider whether, as an exercise of discretion, the requirements of PIC 4020(1) and (2) should be waived because there were "compelling circumstances that affect the interests of Australia" or "compassionate or compelling circumstances that affect the interests of an Australian citizen, an Australian permanent resident, or an eligible New Zealand citizen". The Tribunal concluded that there were no such compelling or compassionate circumstances. Although this finding was challenged before the Federal Circuit Court, it was not the subject of any ground of appeal before this Court. 24 The appellants sought judicial review of the Tribunal's decision in the Federal Circuit Court. By orders made on 25 November 2016, the Federal Circuit Court dismissed the application for judicial review. That date assumes some significance in the appellants' application for leave to raise a new ground of appeal based on the Full Court's decisions in Singh and Gill. The date of the Federal Circuit Court orders is approximately one month after the Full Court handed down its orders and reasons in the matters of Singh and Gill. However, it appears the Federal Circuit Court was not aware of those decisions, and neither of the parties sought to draw the Court's attention to them. 25 Given the application for leave to amend the notice of appeal, it is unnecessary to describe in detail the findings and reasoning of the Federal Circuit Court. It is necessary only to note what is recorded in the Federal Circuit Court's reasons in relation to grounds 3 and 4 of the judicial review application before it. 26 At [25]-[28] the Federal Circuit Court stated: Ground 3 Ground 3 is as follows: The Second Respondent made jurisdictional error by failing to consider whether fraud by a third party vitiated the visa application process of [sic] that fraud had been perpetrated on the Applicant as well as on the First and The Second Respondents. The applicant did not, either in her written submissions, or in her counsel's oral submissions, address this ground. It is not apparent, therefore, why the applicant claims the Tribunal ought to have considered whether the fraud involved in the submission by the applicant's agent of fraudulent bank statements also constituted a fraud against the applicant. Such inquiry would not have been relevant to whether the fraudulent bank statements were "bogus documents". As the Full Federal Court held in Trivedi, a document will be counterfeit within the meaning of s.97 of the Act if the document is purposely untrue, even if the visa applicant was unaware the information was purposely untrue. Nor would such inquiry have ben [sic] relevant to determining whether the purported bank statements conveyed information that was false or misleading in a material respect. Ground 3, therefore, also fails. Ground 4 Ground 4 formally challenges the correctness of the Full Court's decision in Trivedi. The applicant accepts that this ground cannot succeed in the light of Trivedi. (Footnotes omitted.) 27 Relying on these passages, the appellants submit that although the "jurisdictional fact" ground was not agitated before the Federal Circuit Court, the appellants had clearly contended that there had been a fraud by a third party (namely the Nepalese agent) which "vitiated" the visa application process, and that it was a fraud perpetrated on the appellants as well as on the Minister's delegate. Although counsel frankly acknowledged that before the Federal Circuit Court, these arguments were put by reference to the Full Court in Trivedi v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection [2014] FCAFC 42; 220 FCR 169, he nevertheless submitted that the way these grounds were framed before the Federal Circuit Court indicated the core allegation that there had been fraud by a third party against the appellants was a matter raised before the Federal Circuit Court.