November 15, 2003	Saturday	Ramazan 19, 1424

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LOS ANGELES, Nov 14: A college professor from India and an unemployed Pakistani have pleaded guilty to running a student visa racket with the help of two others.

The Atlanta-based Morris Brown College Professor Julu Kothapa and Syed Nusrat Ahmed from Pakistan admitted last week before the agents of the Department of Homeland Security to illegally providing student visas to 56 illegal aliens over a four-year period, starting from 1998, charging between $2,000 and $5,000 for each F-1 visa.

Under the last week’s plea agreement with the US Attorney-General office, Julu Kothapa, 64, and Nusrat Ahmed, 38, will testify at the trial of two of their associates — Leory Evans, a designated school official, and Abiola Lawal.

Mr Evans and Mr Lawal remain free on bond and are scheduled for trial from coming week.

According to prosecutors, Mr Kothapa provided the necessary paperwork to have Morris Brown College issue student visa forms and Mr Lawal prepared and signed final affidavits, supporting the applicant’s candidacy for admissions to the college, in exchange for a fee.

Once the applications were completed, Mr Kothapa and Mr Lawal routed them directly to Mr Evans, who also used to accept fee for his signature on the forms.

The process avoided the standard admission procedure at the Morris Brown College, which as an institution was not charged in this fraud and is cooperating fully with the investigators.

Even though the case is under investigation by the agents of the US Department of Homeland Security, both Mr Kothapa and Mr Ahmed are not charged on terrorism.

A sentencing date for Nusrat Ahmed and Julu Kothapa has not been set.