Breaking Australian immigration news brought to you by Migration Alliance and associated bloggers.
Update 29 /11/2016 - URGENT NEWS: Edward Kang convicted of 21 counts of fraud at Parramatta Local Court, on bail and due to be sentenced on or about 20 March 2017. Apparently fair trading will be publishing something in their website in the next hour or so.
Update: 14/11/2013 - Eddie Kang makes it onto Today Tonight
Update: 14/11/2013 - Meld Magazine reports on Eddie Kang and Singapore Oil
WARNING: The following Singapore Oil advertisement STILL appears on seek: http://www.seek.com.au/job/25305139
None of the Migration Agents listed on the above advertisment (see below for list) have stated on their OMARA profiles that they are linked in any way to Singapore Oil or Borderless Globe:
Mr. David Mendelssohn – Barrister – Federal & High Court Only
Ms. Cyril Gabito – Solicitor – MARN 1383988
Mr. Abu Baquer Siddque – Barrister – MARN 0901413
Mr. Mark Gardiner – Solicitor – (Teddington Legal – Subcontractor)
Mrs. Viji Virassamy - Solicitor
Mr. Michael Poynder – In-House Counsel
Mr. Amy Young – Solicitor
Mr. Jingchun Tang – RMA – MARN 0301491
The advertisment goes on to say 'We have 20 years in experience in industry, and at our office many lawyers and RMAs are working as in-house, salary based mostly. MARN numbers will be given upon request.'
I have checked all these agents out and found their MARNs and none of their MARNs link to this business.
MIA-advertising-Singapore-Oil.pdf - the advert on MIA website until 17/10/2013
Here is the Google cache live link to the MIA website ad for Eddy Kang's business, Singapore Oil
International Students are allegedly being promised an Australian 457 visa and paying huge sums of money only to discover they have been completely conned.
There are companies that currently have operations in Australia but where the head office and the location of the mother-company is offshore.
Karl Konrad and his business has been contacted for months regarding clients of Singapore Oil Pte Ltd looking for a professional solution to a complex and sad situation where they have paid sums such as $20,000 deposit for a 457 visa.
Migration Alliance has been informed that Migration Agents have also been victims of Mr Kang and used as pawns. If you have been a victim of Mr Kang it is likely you will need proper legal representation. Please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
for assistance.
For the full story and to watch the interviews with the clients and the Mr Kang (the alleged conman) please click here.
The rumour of Kang's office being raided seems to be untrue I'm afraid.
Yesterday I was invited to a meeting with members of the NSW Police and senior DIBP fraud investigators. The purpose for my attendance was to brief them on the substantial amount of evidence we had collected on Singapore Oil Pte Ltd and complaints received to our office by many individuals who perceive themselves to be victims of fraud allegedly instigated by Mr. Eddie (Edward) KANG.
The number of people who contact our office regarding Mr. Kang are increasing day by day. To date I have spoken to about 30 people who have made serious allegations regarding Mr. Kang's behaviour. These allegations have been put to both the police and DBIP.
I can assure the members of Migration Alliance that the investigators are determined to get to the truth of these allegations and if breaches of the criminal law are discovered, both state and federal, charges will be laid.
There is little doubt that the public is now aware of Mr. Kang and all of you will make a personal judgement based upon the information you may have read or watched on TV. I would like to remind you all however that in Australia we believe in a fair go and Mr. Kang will receive a fair opportunity of reply. Lets the courts determine, if he is charged at all, what the fate of Mr. Kang shall be.
I can assure you that I have better things in my life to do than to stick my neck out against the threat of legal action by Mr. Kang to bring the story of his alleged wrongdoings to the public arena. I have a business to run and the well being of my staff to consider when deciding to go on national television and to run stories in my other company IMMIGRATION NEWS.
Personally I am angry to have to take this risk. Angry at the DBIP who did nothing after my complaints and even angrier to discover that others had complained to them well before hand.
The earliest complaint on record that I have discovered regarding Mr. Kang goes back to the 23rd November 2012 when a brave Migration Agent Cinia reported Kang in detail on the DIAC Dob In Line. Cinia worked for just two days in the SIngapore Oil Pte Ltd office in North Sydney before she formed the opinion there was something illegal in what he was doing. She stood up to him when he demanded she sign the DIAC application form as the representing agent to a file she had only just been given. She told him it had no chance of success but he allegedly told her he would take his chances and lodge it anyway. We will publish herfull story at the end of this weekend.
We thank Steve of Lateline for agreeing to run with the story and his further investigations independent of ours. I have dealt with journalists now for nearly twenty years now on major stories in the public interest and every experience continues fill me with a spirit of optimism and hope that everyone can do their part to make a difference. I am indeed fortunate to experience such events in my lifetime. I hope Cinia feels that initial contribution regarding Eddie Kang, will in its own way, place pressure on the Minister that a great wrong has taken place not to investigate Kang earlier.
So much pain could have been avoided by those who feel they have lost thousands of dollars to Mr. Kang if numerous DIBP officers had simply stopped, listened and cared.
I can tell you now, they are listening load and clear.
I have come to the conclusion now after hearing what others are saying, the DIBP and the OMARA need to provide an explanation as to why people like Cinia felt nobody cared about what they had to say. The young migration agent xxxxx and his friend went to the OMARA office and gave in detail to one officer details of their experiences with Kang seven months ago only to be told that OMARA didn't have the resources to do anything.
However OMARA they did have the resource of a telephone, thats all I had to use to get things rolling.
All they had to do was pick it up and blast a warning shot to DIBP that something needed to be done. Time will tell if they actually did this but we need a transparent investigation as to why on the face of the evidence so far, they did nothing.
I am sure the new DIBP Minister would feel like us, that the calls of justice need to be addressed and dealt with so confidence can be restored in those who had the power to make a difference but failed to act.
Hi Narendra,
I also worked with Eddie Kang in Nov 2012, but only for 2 afternoons. The next day, I never returned to his office in North Sydney but I demanded my payment for the hours I worked from the previous day as he paid me cash on the first day. I suspected that he has been doing business illegally.
I reported him to authorities but no one listened nor wanted to know.
I received again another phone call from Jack in January 2013 for a job offer. I still have text messages on my mobile phone as my evidence. I am so thankful that I never deleted any messages from Eddie Kang and Jack for almost a year now.
This is the time my evidence will be seen by the authorities.
I lost my interest to stay in the profession as a Registered Migration Agent with my brief experience with Eddie Kang. My registration will expire on 20 Oct 2013, Sunday.
Why would the authorities be so blind for so long?
Wei, I don't know but it is really quite disturbing. What is most disturbing for me was on the video where Mr Kang is heard saying he was gong to kill the client and then asked where they were, where they lived and told them they had better call the police. Then when this was played back to him as a recording, he denied saying it immediately after hearing it. Does he believe his own lies?
Reference in New Zealand new
tp://tvnz.co.nz/business-news/police-shut-down-korean-immigration-company-2487394
Eddie Kang was already issued in New Zealand as Edward Kang.
"Hundreds of Koreans who hope to become New Zealand citizens have been caught up in a messy dispute involving police and Korean government officials.
Court appointed liquidators called police to remove Wasan International's owner, Edward Kang, and to shut down the company's Auckland offices.
Kang has been an immigration consultant for almost 20 years.
The liquidators say he has charged potential migrants up to $40,000 often for unsuccessful residency applications.
They say they are investigating debts which could exceed $2 million.
"A lot of people have lost a lot of money dealing with Mr Kang and hopefully as a result of this, there wont be too many more," says Wasan International Liquidator, Damien Grant.
However Kang rejects the liquidator's claims.
"Nobody has complained, nobody has contacted me at all, so at this stage the service that we have provided, has been quite happy," he says.
Kang is no stranger to controversy.
The Asia Downunder programme confronted him four years ago about withholding the passport of one client because of unpaid fees.
When liquidators searched Wasan's offices this week, they found dozens of passports.
"Some of those passports were handed over to the New Zealand Immigration Service and unfortunately some of those people were overstayers," says Grant.
After a two hour standoff on Saturday, Kang agreed to leave the building to allow Korean consulate officials to collect hundreds of files.
"The Korean consulate will keep their files and passports and documents in a safe place so they can contact, they can collect their files," says Hakjun Lee, Korean Consulate Lawyer.
Kang has accused the liquidators of being cowboys and says he will try to overturn the liquidation order.
He has also formed a new company to carry on the immigration business.
Meanwhile the Immigration Minister says he expects his department to investigate Wasan International and will closely monitor developments.
If you have had issues with Edward Kang ONE News would like to hear from you. Contact us at 09 916 7266 or via email at news@tvnz.co.nz
I saw the interview in the ABC late line. One item that caught my interest was a condition in his contract with clients where it says any dispute would be resolved under the legal jurisdiction of the country where the head office of his company located , I. e in Singapore. This clause is unlawful. The legal resolution will be conducted in the country where the Contract is physically signed for execution which is Australia. It appears his intentions were mala fide right from the beginning and certainly in breach of the MARA code, and may well include the Criminal Code for attempts to cheating or frauding.
I totally agree with you Mr Robert , how can a government let open a business legally where there is no legal bind of Australian Law, ?Eddie Kang pays Tax to Australia, not to Singapore therefore, it should be Australian Government bodies's best interest to find out how much legal or illegal things going in this office. Poor students or general investors are not responsible to search for his background as he has a well set up office environment. Who will believe in the heart of city, anyone would establish a oil company to take out dollars from innocent students out there who work very hard- day and nights to pay there tuition fees and visas. No one can imagine how hard they manages money to live here.. I want to ask these policy maker one question -A normal person who didn't pay the bill on time , cant even get a mobile phone from a Phone Company .. how a person like Eddie Kang can open a legal business when he had cheated million dollar from New Zealand?? it means there's no background check here to open a business ,no suspecting when a Oil company doesn't deal with Oil but Students??
This guy was rigorously advertising in MIA (Migration Institute of Australia) website seeking newly registered migration agents. This was almost 6 to 8 months ago.
During that time, I have just received my registration and I was looking for employment. The name ‘Singapore Oil’ made me suspicious and I have searched extensively in internet and ASIC to find more information about the company. My search resulted in the conclusion that this is somewhat fraudulent. MIA should have at least searched the background of this person prior to putting these kinds of fraudulent job advertisements in their website. These kind of shonky people use Gumtree and Seek for attracting their victims.
Hopefully all the victims' money are kept in clients' account as requested by COC rather then the company account, the victims may be able to recover the money they've been ripped off.
The other thing I also do not really understand is why the departments of the government failed to act for such a long time, are they really function well?
It is expected that all the migration agents who ever worked with Mr, Kang at his office in North Sydney will come under close scrutiny by DIBP, MARA and the Federal Police. In my opinion based upon the agents I have spoken to so far, Mr. Kang set up the business in a manner that will likely lead to multiple breaches of the Migration Act by those agents who were in his employment. So far, those spoken to I would regard them as victims being used in manner that was not in their best interest however that does not mean MARA will take the same attitude.
It would be in the best interest of any agent whoever worked with Mr. Kang to contact Migration Alliance for professional assistance for any possible future MARA action.