A woman was today fined $40,000 for falsely obtaining a Guyanese passport for her US visa application.
30-year-old Priya Sewraj of Lying Street, Charlestown, Georgetown was before Senior Magistrate Leron Daly at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts where she was read the charge.
It is alleged that on July 13, 2012, at the Central Immigration and Passport Office Georgetown, for the purpose of procuring a new passport, she made a false statement by signing to a writing declaration that she is Bibi Shazia Khan, and that she was never issued a Guyanese passport, knowing same to be false.
Sewraj pleaded guilty with explanation and then told the court that she was trying to get a Guyanese passport.
According to the police facts, Sewraj, the holder of a Suriname Passport, was at the Consular section of the US Embassy Visa Application processing. Her fingerprints were being scanned by the electromnic system which returned with a positive fingerprint match for Bibshazia Khan. However during the scanning process it was indicated that her prints matched another name. As a result an investigation was conducted. She was later contacted and told of the allegation.
She explained to the police that she was given a false Visa some years back and that she was stopped by US immigration offciers who made her aware of the situation. She then wanted to apply for her own visa several years later but could not do so. She was then advised to get a new birth certificate and other documents, which she did. Hence the charge against her.
She was fined $40,000 or 12 months behind bars if the fine is not paid.
