A 30-year-old Surinamese national was on Friday fined $40,000 for creating a false name to procure a Guyanese passport in 2012; she was only caught last year after she applied to the US Embassy in Georgetown for an American visa.
Priya Sewraj of Lyng Street, Charlestown, Georgetown appeared before City Magistrate Leron Daly and admitted that July 13, 2012, at Central Immigration and Passport Office, for the purpose of procuring a new passport, made a false statement by signing to a written declaration that she was Bibi Shazia Khan and that she was never issued or previously held a Guyana passport, knowing same to be false.
The Magistrate fined Sewraj $40,000 with a default sentence of 12 months.
According to reports, Sewraj is a Surinamese national by birth and holder of a Suriname passport.
On July 12, 2012, the defendant went to the Central Immigration and Passport Office and made an application for a Guyana passport where she presented a birth certificate in the name of Bib Shazia Khan.
In the passport application form, she signed as the said name knowing it was false; she was subsequently issued a Guyana passport in the name of Khan.
On June 29, 2021, the defendant made an application for an American visa using her Suriname passport and during the visa application processing, the defendant’s fingerprints were scanned by the Electronic Visa System.
The system returned a positive fingerprint match for one Bib Shazia Khan, Date of Birth August 5, 1987, with Guyana Passport number R0311285 and that she appeared at the US Embassy in Georgetown on August 13, 2012.
As a result, an investigation was conducted, the defendant was arrested and told of the allegation. In a statement under caution, she admitted to the offence.
