[2024] UKUT 00142 (IAC)

Mr Ó Ceallaigh submits there are several reasons why we should reach a different view of the evidence that is relied upon by the SSHD to that reached by the Upper Tribunal in DK and RK. In summary, there is now evidence from Richard Shury, the Security and Compliance Specialist for ETS Global. He submits ETS knew as long ago as 2013 that there were other methods of fraud apart from ‘direct substitution’ and that evidence was not shared with the Tribunal in DK and RK. On the evidence before us, the Tribunal’s previous faith in ETS as a reputable organisation, he submits, was misplaced. Second, we have expert evidence from Christopher Stanbury regarding the likelihood of the use of a ‘hidden room’. Using the ‘parallel testing’ (cloned manager PC) method, or the mass replacement of voice files, there is a possibility that a genuine candidate would be unaware of the fraud. In DK and RK¸ the Tribunal did not consider the range of methods by which the fraud could be perpetrated without the knowledge of the candidate.

The focus in DK and RK, was upon fraud by direct substitution. The focus of the evidence before us has been upon methods involving the use of a ‘hidden room’.