A GROUP of students left in the lurch by the closure of English-language schools in Dublin have been accused of fraud in their own country.

They say newspaper reports and comments from politicians in Venezuela have painted them as “cheats” rather than victims.

Now, they want the Irish Government to support them by issuing a statement clarifying that they were not involved any “illegal money exchange” scam.

Truth

They read out a statement during a protest outside the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) on Burgh Quay calling on “the Government of Ireland” to “expose the real facts”.

The students have been falsely accused of claiming fees for courses that they did not attend.

However, they say the truth of the situation is they paid over the money to schools, including Eden College that subsequently closed, leaving them without classes to go to.

“We are having serious troubles in our country because we are accused by the government of practising illegal money exchange. It is so bad for us,” Patricia Gonzalez (24) told the Herald.

“They say that we stole the money, that we never came to classes and for that reason our school was closed and that is not true.

“The school in my case was Eden College and it closed because of economic and administrative problems,” she said.

“They (The Venezuelan government) need an official statement from the (Irish) Government.

“They don’t have all the information about the case,” added Ms Gonzalez, who was studying English in Eden.

Some 355 students from Venezuela were attending international schools in Dublin.

“It’s not fair for me or for anybody,” Ms Gonzalez said.

“We were cheated by a company and now we have to deal with judicial problems in our country and it’s so bad for us,” she said. “When we come back to our country, everybody is going to accuse us.”

The students are “definitely” worried they might be arrested when they return home, Ms Gonzalez added.

comurphy@herald.ie