Lambirds Academy students protesting on Friday (June 5).
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has put a hold on arrangements made to have stranded students of the Lambirds Academy scandal returned home.
This was communicated to the students on Sunday (June 7), by an IOM representative based in Trinidad and Tobago.
A group of about 12 students were expected to depart the island this morning. While the remaining students were expected to leave on given dates, later this month.
A meeting was held with the students during last week, where government officials and representatives from the IOM were present to tell them about the new arrangement.
Each of the students was promised that once the case is completed and their monies are recovered, it will be sent to them.
They were all issued statements/tickets by local police, which validates this agreement.
However, they were reminded by the officials, that the case could take a maximum of 10 years, or it could be completed in less than two years.
While some of the students are happy to return home after being stranded here for several months, others believe that once they do, they will not receive any justice and lose all their money.
A group of about 30 students staged a peaceful protest complete with placards in Constitution Park on Friday (June 5), to raise their concerns with regards to the case.
The academy’s Chief Executive Officer Iftekhar Shams is facing charges of more than 60 counts of money laundering and human trafficking. Shams and three others are accused of scamming the students.
The students are mainly from Nepal, India and the Philippines. They claimed that they each paid US$9, 000 for the courses and US$13,000 to get to St. Lucia, to undertake various courses.
However on arrival here, they were told by law enforcement authorities that they had been duped.