Melbourne: charge over visa bribe

The Age, August 2007

A Melbourne official with the Department of Immigration and Citizenship has been charged with accepting a bribe.

Ijaz Ahmad Aziz, 44, was arrested today and accused of accepting $8000 to help a person obtain a visa in May this year.

Commonwealth prosecutor Krista Breckweg told a Melbourne court this afternoon Aziz is alleged to have told the woman he could help obtain a "immigration document" if she paid the money ...

Aziz, who has already surrendered his Australian passport, must surrender within 24 hours his Pakistani and New Zealand passports ...

Aziz was well known in the Pakistani community and any publicity would cause distress to his wife, who is pregnant.

More: The Age, AIM

And what did Jone Stone say last year?

There should be an immediate major reform and reshaping of the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs:

(1) Formally recognise that this Department is now as integral to our national security as the Defence Department, ASIO and the armed forces, and begin to staff it accordingly, including with respect to security checks ...