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An immigration fraudster who used deception and attempted bribes to try and sponsor 528 refugees into Canada has undermined the public’s confidence in the country’s refugee process, an Ottawa judge said Monday before sentencing the man to three years and nine months in prison.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Robert Beaudoin also expressed surprise that Mohamed Farah Abdulle was able to carry out his scheme for as long as he did without being detected by officials at Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

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“He just learned how to exploit the apparent lack of oversight in the system,” said the judge.

Over a five-year period, the 54-year-old former janitor participated in 170 sponsorship applications that attempted to bring 528 refugees to Canada. Thirty-seven refugees were successfully sponsored.

Abdulle’s applications under what is known as the Group of Five (or G5) refugee sponsorship program involved phoney claims of financial support like doctored pay stubs or forged bank letters, and potential sponsors who didn’t know their names were being put forward on the applications. Abdulle also offered to pay the mortgage of a Citizenship and Immigration Canada official in exchange for his applications being processed faster.