A Canal Number One resident yesterday pleaded guilty to falsifying his passport application and was fined $70,000 by the Chief Magistrate.
The court heard that on December 11, 2013, at the Central Immigration Passport Office Georgetown, Glen Lall, 21, of 29 Clay Brick Road Canal Number One, made a false statement by signing to a written document that he was Seeram Ramlall, knowing same to be false. Lall pleaded guilty to the charge after it was read to him by Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan.
According to Lall’s attorney Paul Fung-A-Fat, his client was deported from Trinidad and Tobago to answer the charge. The lawyer went on to say that the reason why his client did the act was because his wife who resides in Tobago had given birth and he wanted to see the child.
Lall, when given a chance to speak, told the court that he was very sorry for what he had done.
Police Prosecutor Neville Jeffers told the court that Lall is a holder of a Guyanese passport, but in the name of Bharrat Dindyal. The prosecutor said he used that passport to travel to the twin islands and was deported when he overstayed his time in that country. When he returned to Guyana, Lall applied for another passport in the name Seeram Ramlall. He then used that passport and re-entered Trinidad and Tobago.
According to Jeffers, when the Trinidadian authorities did investigations they found out that Dindyal and Ramlall were the same person and as such they deported Lall to Guyana for the second time.
The prosecutor said that when the defendant came back to Guyana he was told of the offence, which he admitted to committing. Checks were made at the passport office by the police, the prosecutor said, and a document was recovered with the signing of the wrong name.
Magistrate McLennan fined Lall $70,000 and told him if he defaults in the payment he can spend 4 months in prison.
