EXCLUSIVE
Australia Post has sacked a millionaire labour hire contractor who is at the centre of a major federal police fraud probe and who has been accused of exploiting overseas workers.
The Ferrari-driving contractor, Baljit "Bobby" Singh, and two of his business associates, are expected to appear before the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday afternoon to face several criminal charges.
Mr Singh allegedly heads a syndicate bringing students to Australia on the pretence of doing courses at a government-subsidised education college in Melbourne's north. The students are often promised a working visa or permanent residency at the end of their education course.
However, the education is often not delivered, and the students are sub-contracted to Australia Post where they work at sub-award wages, sorting and delivering packages.
The revelations are acutely embarrassing for Australia Post and its owner, the federal government. Each has been effectively funding Mr Singh's operations - Australia Post through contracts with his labour hire companies, and the federal government through millions of dollars in student fee subsidies to his college, St Stephens Institute in Reservoir.
In a statement given to Fairfax Media on Wednesday afternoon, Australia Post said it had "terminated all delivery contracts with a Victorian contractor at the centre of an Australian Federal Police investigation, reinforcing the strong working relationship with authorities and commitment to stamping-out any alleged illegal behaviour."
Australia Post has been repeatedly warned since 2012 that Mr Singh allegedly exploits overseas workers and students, although senior Australia Post staff insist they previously lacked the evidence to take action.
Mr Singh's syndicate allegedly involves several other Indian business figures, including a licensed government migration agent, and student recruitment agents in India and China.
Acting on information uncovered by a Fairfax Media investigation, detectives from the Australian Federal Police's Crime Operations team this morning swooped on properties linked to Mr Singh. His Ferrari has been seized under proceeds of crime laws.
His St Stephens Institute has attracted hundreds of fee-paying foreign students over several years, including many from India, who find themselves being recruited to work for Mr Singh as posties and delivery centre staff.
Mr Singh is suspected of underpaying, or paying no superannuation or overtime, to many of these foreign workers, who are effectively indentured to him on the promise of obtaining Australian visas to work or study.
The involvement of the government-owned and iconic Australia Post in Mr Singh's suspected visa rorting and worker exploitation comes as the federal government resists a push by unions and the ALP to clamp down on the way foreign workers, often recruited by exploitative agents, are accessing the local job market.
The issue has most recently come to prominence in connection to the China Free Trade Agreement, which will enable some businesses to employ temporary migrant workers without testing whether anybody locally is willing to do the work.
The revelations about Australia Post also raise fresh questions about the long-standing failure of immigration authorities to combat syndicates who are suspected of rorting temporary labour or student visa schemes and exploiting overseas workers.
Senior law enforcement sources say the newly formed Australian Border Force, which has taken over immigration investigations, is still months away from running any effective operation to combat dozens of criminal groups involved in migration crime.
Australia Post scrambled to deal with the fallout from the AFP operation by releasing a statement about recent moves to overhaul its compliance regime. It is also understood Mr Singh's contracts are likely to be terminated, with Australia Post to ramp up its spot checks and encourage whistle-blowing to ensure "workers are being paid correctly and engaged legally".
Fairfax Media has obtained documents showing the Communications Union, which represents postal workers, has been warning Australia Post since 2012 about Mr Singh's operations. On July 30, 2012, union state secretary Joan Doyle wrote to Australia Post manager Vance Duke, warning about the mistreatment and sham-contracting of workers at delivery centres contracted to Mr Singh's firms.
"These arrangements have led to many types of exploitation," Ms Doyle wrote.
"We know that many of these workers are not covered by Worker's Compensation and do not receive superannuation. Some of them are paid cash in hand and operate with international [driver's] licenses. Many receive no payments for over-time hours or early starts."
In late 2014, Ms Doyle began action in the Fair Work Commission against Mr Singh's companies in a move that led to the union writing to Australia Post to reiterate its concerns about his operations. Australia Post moved to overhaul its compliance regime in April.
Last November, Fairfax Media discovered that Mr Singh and his associates were using fraudulent National Police Checks to pass various regulatory hurdles, including those required to operate a college for international students.
AFP checks are also required to work in certain Australia Post roles, given the sensitivity around handling mail.
Mr Singh is only one of several figures allegedly running migration or labour rackets with impunity.
The rackets often involve foreign student colleges, employers or migration agents who recruit foreign nationals willing to make large payments to obtain the qualifications or jobs needed to get Australian visas or permanent residency.
Fairfax Media has identified several colleges and migration agents who are taking large cash payments in return for providing fraudulent qualifications, fake work placements or jobs in which overseas workers are exploited.
"You have refugees fleeing for their lives and they end up in detention but any cashed up worker can come over to Australia very easily and get a job and a visa. It drives down labour rights and conditions," Ms Doyle said.
Earlier this year, Fairfax Media reported that infrastructure giant Thiess employed migrant workers on illegal contracts that allowed the company to sack and deport them for joining unions, as new evidence emerges of human rights violations under Australian visa programs.
A Senate inquiry is also investigating foreign worker exploitation, following allegations of migrant farm labourers being grossly underpaid and kept in slave-like conditions.
In a statement, Australia Post said: "If there is evidence a contractor is not complying with relevant workplace laws, we will exercise any appropriate contractual rights to remedy the situation – including termination of contract and working with authorities."
Rakesh Kumar, 37, and Mukesh Sharma, 42, appeared before Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday on five charges each, including conspiring to obtain or gain from a Commonwealth entity, possessing forged documents and dealing with money or property that is suspected of being the proceeds of crime. Mr Kumar is also charged with falsifying documents.
Both men were granted bail to return to court in January. It is understood Mr Singh remains in custody on similar charges, but prosecutors are unlikely to oppose him being granted bail.
With Adam Cooper
