A corrupt Australian immigration officer has been jailed for fast-tracking the citizenship applications of more than 100 Chinese immigrants.
David Moon, who signed off on some of the cases in as little as three minutes, received business-class flights and luxury holidays, including a stay in Hong Kong, in return for rubber-stamping the applications, according to evidence heard in Sydney's District Court.
The holidays were paid for by an associate, George Ling Kai-hung, who in turn received about US$900,000 from Chinese keen to gain Australian citizenship.
The scam unravelled during a routine administrative check in which immigration department officers noticed that 86 files assigned to Moon had gone missing.
Moon tipped off Ling about the ensuing investigation and he fled to the US, hastily withdrawing A$384,000 (HK$2.85 million) from a bank account he shared with Moon.
But he was tracked down and extradited to Australia in early 2006.
Moon, 69, who worked in the immigration department's Sydney office, was sentenced on Wednesday to at least nine months in prison after admitting two counts of defrauding the Australian government.
