Ottawa (Retter?) Business College: diploma mill gets student visas for terrorists

"Federal investigators found an 'alarming' network of immigrants, tied to a Toronto diploma mill, whose activities include trying to get into a nuclear compound, gathering radioactive devices, moving house in the middle of the night and learning to fly, according to a document summarizing the case presented at immigration detention hearings this week. [...] The officer could not verify claims the person attended the Ottawa Business College or even confirm that the school existed, according to the document."
-- http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?id=4E77662B-4D14-4E1B-9AE8-9C6C841FAF10

"The officer was unable to verify the applicant was a student at the Ottawa Business College, as he purported on his application. She contacted the anti-terrorism unit. Police began investigating the Ottawa school and found that the Ottawa Business College was not a legitimate school. Foreign students and others could purchase acceptance letters, transcripts and diplomas for a fee without ever attending classes. Police have seized almost 400 student files from the facility."
-- http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1061560243408_164/?hub=CTVNewsAt11

"Ottawa Business College - www.travel-net.com/~johnp
The Ottawa Business College provides diploma and certificate courses in business and computer occupations. Planning a career change or upgrading your skills? The Ottawa Business College can help. New opportunities are available with a diploma from The Ottawa Business College. Ottawa Business College provides valuable business and computer skills for students. Expert training and quality Instructors are accessible to those seeking an education. Register today to earn your diploma. Mail us at 298 Elgin St., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; K2P 1M3, or phone us at (613) 236-1550. Our fax number is (613) 257-4202."
-- http://www.talentlab.com/contact/ottawa_ed.htm

"Retter Business College was founded in 1975. The college is registered as a Private Vocational School and is approved and accredited by the Minister of Education and Training of Ontario. [...] Retter Business College is conveniently located in the heart of downtown Ottawa. The college is located at 294 Albert Street, 2nd floor, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1P-6E6 If you require additional information on any of our Courses or Diploma Programs, please contact: James Adams or Larry Brooks at: Tel: (613) 236-1550 or [email protected]"
http://www.travel-net.com/~johnp/info.htm

 

Yeah, if it's from onen of Izzy Asper's newspapers, then the report must be 110% true.

 

The news content is generally reasonable but if any editor or publisher should actually have an independent thought they are, of course, fired.

 

Police called this "Project Thread", but this columnist thinks it's "Project Thinnest of Threads":
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1061806822476

 

"The link among them is their association with Ottawa Business College, a venture based in Toronto's eastern Scarborough district. It shut down in June, 2001. Investigators say that director Luther Samuel has admitted selling false registration letters for $400 that allow foreigners to obtain student visas. [...] Some appear to have believed they were enrolling in a bona fide school when they signed up for the Ottawa Business College. Sajjad Ahmad, a Pakistani doctor, said he discovered the school was no longer in operation only after his immigration application was rejected."
-- http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030827.uterr0827/BNStory/National/

"One of the 19 men with suspected ties to al-Qaeda was ordered released on bail Wednesday after an adjudicator found no concrete evidence against any of the men."
-- http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/08/28/qaeda_hearing030828

"RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli told reporters in Halifax there is no security threat related to the case. 'I can assure you there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that there's any terrorist threat anywhere in this country related to this investigation. It's an ongoing investigation,' Zaccardelli said."
-- http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1062075979331_115/?hub=TopStories

http://www.talentlab.com/contact/ottawa_ed.htm has dropped all mention of "Ottawa Business College". But it seems that Luther Samuel's "Ottawa Business College" wasn't in Ottawa, so Retter Business College may be an innocent bystander.

 

Just ethnic profiling. The police haven't bothered others who got student visas from a fake school, took pilot training, toured a nuclear plant, and had schematic drawings of large structures.

 

Ottawa Business School "was founded in 1996 by John Plevritis [...]. He soon found it difficult to attract students because they were ineligible for the government student loan programs. [...] Mr. Plevritis went shopping for a school that was already qualified and bought Retter Business College, a school with a good reputation that was founded in 1975. Mr. Plevritis, in turn, sold the Ottawa Business College to Mr. [Luther] Samuel in 1997 [...]. Mr. Samuel moved the school to Toronto, setting up in a commercial strip in Scarborough, despite the confusion of a school with an Ottawa name having a Toronto address. [...]

"By the start of 1999, however, Mr. Samuel was selling documents to foreign students that could be used to obtain a student visa, federal authorities allege. [...] For between $400 and $500, immigrants were buying a letter from the school stating that the student was accepted at the school and that tuition had been paid, authorities allege. Mr. Samuel and an employee, named as Wilde West in hearing documents, worked to provide the documents regardless of whether tuition was actually paid, regardless of whether the student was actually taking a course, immigration hearings heard. In fact, the paperwork was issued even after the school lost all of its provincial registration and licensing and offered no classes."

-- http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?id=3D1CD936-DD21-4535-AB06-DF7328E4BC17

 

"The federal immigration department's Project Thread terror probe appeared to be unravelling completely yesterday as security concerns were dropped against six more Muslim suspects — including a student pilot who was allegedly scouting out the Pickering nuclear plant."
-- http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1064527812355&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154