Garda’s ‘wedding scam’

Asian trainee garda quits over allegation that he paid an Eastern European woman €15k to marry so he could stay in Ireland

A TRAINEE garda has resigned after he allegedly married a gay woman so that he could stay in Ireland.

The 31-year-old man, who is originally from Southeast Asia, was accepted into the Garda Training College last year.

The Garda National Immigration Bureau discovered that he married an Eastern European woman several years ago.

He allegedly paid her €15,000, allowing the man to gain residency in Ireland.

The Garda spokesman told the Irish Daily Mail last night that there was an ongoing investigation into the case.

He said that the force would not be making a comment.

It is understood that a file is to be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The alleged arranged marriage was discovered as part of Operation Vantage, an ongoing Garda investigation into sham weddings.

The man had completed several months of training when his previous, undeclared marriage was discovered.

Garda have interviewed him, and his bride. Another couple, an Asian man and another East European woman, have also been interviewed. That couple married around the same time as the Garda recruit.

Gardaí are satisfied that the Garda recruit married several years before he applied to join the force. He now faces possible deportation if the marriage can be shown to be a sham.

Over 450 marriages have been dissolved or stopped in Ireland since Operation Vantage began in August, 2015.

Under legislation introduced that year, registrar offices can alert gardaí if any doubts arise about the legitimacy of any potential marriages.

Over 250 objections to marriages were raised by registrars up to the end of last year.

Last October, then justice minister Frances Fitzgerald commended the Garda Commissioner and the Garda National Immigration Bureau on the success of Operation Vantage.

On the day she made her comments, 200 gardaí were deployed in raids on 42 locations to uncover fake marriages.

‘Operation Vantage, assisted by officials of the immigration service of my department, sends an unequivocal message to those who would abuse our immigration laws that their actions will not be tolerated. All necessary enforcement measures will be taken against such persons. They can expect to face the full force of our criminal and immigration laws,’ she said.

The 450 cases exposed under Operation Vantage up to the end of 2017 include 80 marriages cancelled by the State following Garda investigations.

The other 370 are mostly cases where one of the parties failed to turn up for the wedding following an inquiry.

The investigations have also resulted in a drop in the number of marriages between EU and nonEU citizens.

In 2015, there were 1,468 notifications of marriage in Ireland between EU and non-EU citizens. In 2016, that plunged to 694 notifications as the first full year of Operation Vantage led to mass wedding cancellations.

The Civil Registration (Amendment) Act came into force on the 18th August 2015, and led to the crackdown.