Arrest Warrant For Woman On Run

The State will be working with Interpol to extradite Chandar and produce her in court.

The Suva Magistrates Court yesterday issued an arrest warrant for a Fijian national, Geeta Anjana Chandar, who is residing in Australia.

The woman is jointly charged with 31-year-old Seta Sanjana Ram, who was presented before Magistrate Waleen George yesterday, charged with trafficking in person, obtaining property by deception and money laundering. The alleged offences took place between February 12, 2014 and March 20, 2017 and involved a sum of $52,142 from 17 complainants.

Both women are charged with 35 counts including two counts of money laundering where Chandar is alleged to have disposed $79,991.40 into a Bank South Pacific account and Ram allegedly disposed $2525 into two Australia and New Zealand bank accounts that were the proceeds of crime. Ram was represented by defence lawyer Kritishna Maharaj. Furthermore she was further remanded in custody after State lawyer Swastika Sharma objected to bail on the grounds that the amount involved was substantial and no recovery was made.

Further, Ms Sharma said Ram had tried numerous times to apply for a visa to go to Australia, however her applications were rejected.

Ms Sharma said Faroz Ali and Jafar Kurisi were named parties to the alleged offences and they had been charged, convicted and sentenced in New Zealand.

Magistrate George transferred the case to the High Court after Ms Sharma made an application for transfer because the trafficking charges were indictable in nature.

Ms Sharma said the State would be working with Interpol to extradite Chandar and produce her in court. First phase disclosures have been served to the accused.

The case has been adjourned to September 3, 2018 for first call in the High Court where Ram’s lawyer was advised to file a formal bail application.

Edited by Percy Kean