Sri Lankan on $1.9m fraud charge fined

A Sri Lankan national who created a fictitious bank account statement to try to secure a $1.9 million loan from another financial institution was yesterday fined $7,500. Anoj Janaka Adrikari Mudiyanselage, 40, who has been living in T&T for 14 years, pleaded guilty before San Fernando Second Court Magistrate Siumungal Ramsaran to two charges arising out of the fraudulent transaction. Court prosecutor Sgt Veano Ragoo said the accused went to the RBC Royal Bank, San Fernando, to obtain a loan on February 26.

In doing so, Ragoo said he presented a statement from First Citizen Bank Ltd’s branch at Montrose Main Road, Chaguanas, for the period November 23, 2013 to April 11, 2014 claiming he had a balance of $243,352.81. The statement was accepted and submitted with other documents for the loan approval. However, it was subsequently discovered the FCB account did not exist. The Fraud Squad was contacted and Mudiyanselage was  charged. 

The magistrate, however, dismissed the first charge which stated he attempted to defraud the bank by obtaining the loan using false documents. Explaining that the wording of the charge was wrong, he said the facts outlined did not establish the offence since Mudiyanselage did not obtain the loan. On the second charge of uttering a false document, his attorney Dane Halls said his client acted out of desperation rather than to deceive because he had gone to the bank for a loan on a previous occasion and was rejected.

Asking for a non-custodial sentence, he said his client was a first time offender, pleaded guilty and it was a non-violent offence. He added that Mudiyanselage, the father of two—ages ten and 11—was remorseful.  The magistrate ordered the accused to pay the money in three months or serve three years in jail. (SW)