NZ – Human Trafficking
Seta Sanjana Ram, 31, who is charged with human trafficking, will have her bail hearing on September 28.
She appeared before Suva High Court judge Justice Daniel Goundar yesterday.
Ram is jointly charged with her sister Geeta Anjana Chandar.
The sisters are charged with 17 counts of trafficking in persons, 16 counts of obtaining property by deception and two counts of money laundering.
An arrest warrant is in place for Chandar, who resides in Australia.
The two were alleged to have facilitated the travel of 17 Fijian citizens, who were exploited through slavery and became victims of human trafficking in New Zealand between April and September 2014.
The duo allegedly obtained a total of $52,142 from the 17 complainants by deception.
For the money laundering charges, it is alleged that Chandar between March 2017 and September 2017 disposed of $79,991.40 into a Bank South Pacific account and between February and May 2014, Ram allegedly disposed of $2,525 into two Australia and New Zealand Bank accounts that were the proceeds of crime.
Defence counsel informed the court that they would be submitting a formal bail application with strict conditions including the suggestion for four sureties as opposed to two sureties.
The state counsel told the court that they would be objecting to bail on the reasons of the seriousness of the offence, the number of complainants and that there was a risk that Ram could interfere with the prosecution witnesses.
The defence counsel told the court that they only assisted with the visas for the 17 complainants and were not aware of what happened to them when they were in New Zealand.
Counsel also objected to the charge of human trafficking and also informed the court that Ram’s sister, Chandar and her de-facto partner that dealt with the complainants and the work they did in New Zealand.
The defence counsel also told the court that there was no trafficking issue because Ram had a travel agency and had assisted in travel forms for the people.
Justice Goundar told both counsels that he would consider the strength of the State’s case.
The defence counsel was told to file formal bail application by September 19.
The State was told to respond to the bail application by September 25.
The accused was further remanded in custody and the matter was adjourned for bail hearing on September 28.