The Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) has been asked to investigate the finances of a number of language schools which gardaí suspect are organising visas for bogus non-national students.
The CAB was drafted in to a major Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) investigation after up to 14 of the schools were identified as "suspect" by the GNIB.
It is currently investigating the finances of those running some of the institutions. Particular emphasis is being placed on tracking earnings which may not have been declared to Revenue, according to a GNIB source.
Management at the schools is a combination of Irish citizens and non-nationals.
Several million euros have been generated in fees by the schools since they first began operating. Much of that is understood to have been paid in cash, making it difficult to trace.
Gardaí believe many non-nationals, mostly Chinese, who have been living in Ireland on student visas, have simply been paying school fees in return for bogus attendance records.
Those on student visas need regular attendance records to satisfy the terms of their visas.
Students are permitted to work 20 hours a week while studying. However, false student records would enable them to abandon their studies and work full time.
At least three suspect schools have already had their registration withdrawn and have since closed. One institution, according to gardaí, was registered as a school of dance and is believed to have been supplying student dancers to lap-dancing clubs.
Staff from the language schools have been interviewed by detectives from Terenure Garda station in Dublin, backed by officers from the GNIB as part of a major investigation.
A source said gardaí were keen to assess if some of the schools existed at all. "We are assessing the number of teaching staff they employ and the accommodation they have," he said.
Once the extent of their operations is measured that will compared with the number of students each school has on its books.
Gardaí say the resources at the disposal of the suspect schools falls well short of what would be needed by legitimate schools offering regular classes to all those registered with them.
The major Garda investigation was sparked after the arrest of a civil servant last January. He was suspected of having played a key role in facilitating some suspect schools in the supply of bogus attendance records to students. The 64-year-old man worked in the visa section at the Department of Justice.
Since his arrest, gardaí have re-examined more than 1,000 student visa registration forms. They have now identified between 150 and 200 registrations which they are treating as suspect.
Criminal intent would have to be proved before criminal proceedings could be brought, said one source.
The civil servant was suspended from duty after his arrest, along with four Chinese nationals. A file on that matter was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions at the beginning of June.
It was not clear what role the man had allegedly played.
However, even low-ranking staff in the Department of Justice would have access to the visa process. Some clerical workers are charged with checking that all necessary documents, such as attendance records, are in place before a visa applications goes to a higher-ranking official for a decision.
