Four held in citizenship test fraud probe

13 April 2012

Four men have been arrested by officers investigating potential corruption of the British citizenship test system, police said.

Police and immigration officials raided a community training centre, which runs the tests, in Sheffield at the weekend.

Four men were arrested on suspicion of corruption and will be questioned later.

A spokeswoman for the Sheffield-based University for Industry (UFI), which runs the test system on behalf of the Home Office, confirmed that a contract to deliver the Life In The UK citizenship test has been suspended in Sheffield.

"UFI is responsible for setting up and managing the IT systems people use to take the tests," she said.

"In December we noticed pockets of activity that seemed irregular. We were aware that the pass rate at the Sheffield centre was above the national average.

"We contacted the police in early January and have been working with the police since then."

The centre, City Wide Learning Ltd, based in Broomhill Street in Broomhill, Sheffield, is one of around 100 test centres across the country and has arranged for more than 4,000 of the online tests to be taken at its premises since the new requirement was introduced in November 2005.

A South Yorkshire Police spokeswoman said: "South Yorkshire Police officers were acting on behalf of the Home Office, which is investigating potential abuse of the citizenship tests.

"The four local men, aged between late 20s and early 30s, were arrested on suspicion of corruption."

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "The Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) believes there must be a gold standard for citizenship tests, which is why abuse is closely monitored and swiftly acted upon.

"On Saturday 10 February, warrants were executed in the Sheffield area, as a result of concerns over potential abuse of the system.

"IND is unable to give further information at this time while a police investigation is ongoing.

"It will be for the police investigation to establish evidence of fraudulent behaviour.

"Where there is evidence directly linking an individual to a fraudulent test, the Government will take action to revoke citizenship."

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