A court in New Zealand has jailed a man who obtained citizenship of the country by falsely claiming that he was born in India and that his entire family was massacred in Bangladesh.
Satya Nand, originally from Fiji, pleaded guilty to a representative charge of using false documentation to obtain a benefit, and was jailed for 29 months, the Stuff reported.
The court heard Mr Nand created a new identity for himself after arriving in New Zealand in 1996 on a student visa, and became Rana Khan.
As a part of his new identity, he claimed he was born in India and went to Bangladesh when he was a year old. He claimed to have been persecuted in Bangladesh and that his family was killed when he was 18.
He claimed to have travelled to New Zealand on a ship via Hong Kong.
Mr Nand managed to get permanent residency and subsequently citizenship of New Zealand based on his false identity and the story he came up with which Immigration New Zealand said was a “fabrication”.
Assistant general manager of INZ Peter Devoy said Mr Nand had never been to either India or Bangladesh.
assistant general manager Peter Devoy said that the entire story was a fabrication.
“[He] was in Fiji and New Zealand for the entire time," he said.
Mr Devoy said Nand obtained identity documents in his false name, completed statutory declarations about his background to obtain residency and subsequently citizenship of New Zealand, and used documentation to obtain benefits for himself, his wife and three children.
"Nand came up with an elaborate story to fulfil his dream of living in New Zealand. His fraudulent behaviour was despicable, particularly in view of the experiences and suffering many genuine refugees experience.
"He was ultimately caught as a result of painstaking investigative work by our compliance officers who managed to locate him under his true Fijian identity and then uncovered his fraud and false identity."
