THREE Indian nationals, allegedly involved in scam to procure work permits for themselves, were ordered deported yesterday when they appeared in the Half-Way-Tree Resident Magistrates Court.

Satish Devarapu, Naveen Jamalpur and Venkat Makapothula were all ordered deported by Magistrate Judith Pusey when one of the three expressed frustration with their incarceration and asked to be sent back to their homeland. Pusey then acceded to the request and signed a deportation order for the three men.

According to the prosecution, earlier this year the three men allegedly paid money to an unidentified individual who had work permits sent to all three in India.

The court was told that the men, sometime afterwards, came to Jamaica and after going to the Ministry of Labour had their work permits stamped.

However, when immigration officials visited the address of the company for whom the men stated that they were to work – Saber Enterprises in Kingston – they found that no such business operated at the premises.

The three men were subsequently arrested and charged with conspiracy to deceive.

In the meantime, another Indian national, Jude Anton Peter, is facing a charge of conspiracy to deceive after allegedly procuring a work permit to work for a non-existent company.

According to the prosecution, Peter came to the island earlier this year and subsequently secured a work permit to work for a multimedia company in Spanish Town. However, when immigration officials went to the address given for the business they found a tenement yard with no equipment suggesting that a business was in operation at the address.

The prosecution, however, ran into difficulties with presiding magistrate Pusey when it was revealed that no checks had been made with the registrar of companies to see whether the company named by Peter existed on their records.

Peter’s attorney, Oswest Senior-Smith, told Pusey that due to government policies allowing for one-man companies in the island, the fact that no equipment was found at the address stated by Peter was of little significance.

The matter was then scheduled for Wednesday for the immigration officials to do checks with the Registrar of Companies, as well as to familiarise themselves with government policy concerning one-man companies.