THIS question was asked inside Siteki Magistrate’s Court after lawyer Ernest Mavuso made startling allegations, suggesting that some immigration officials issued ‘forged’ documents to immigrants, resulting to their arrest upon arrival at the country’s port of entry.
Mavuso made these allegations while representing a Pakistani man who was arrested at KMIII International Airport after he was found to have used forged documents to gain entry and remain in the country. Ali Asjad Yar (23) was facing two counts of contravening the Immigration Act as he appeared before Magistrate Zwelithini Magagula.
On the first count, he was said to have wrongfully and unlawfully used, or have in his possession a forged entry Visa Memo while at the airport. On the second count, the accused was said to have entered and remained in the country without lawful authority.
The accused pleaded guilty to both counts. His plea was accepted by the Crown after his defence counsel also confirmed the plea. Mavuso proceeded and submitted mitigating circumstances on behalf of the accused. Firstly, Mavuso stated that the accused was only a victim of circumstances in the matter. He highlighted that procedurally, a migrant applied for Visa while at his native country.
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He said the forged documents which were found in possession of the accused were processed in Eswatini, purportedly by a government official. Mavuso said the accused was not aware that the documents in his possession were not valid. He said the accused’s inability to understand English also contributed to him accepting documents which were deemed as invalid, or forged.
“It is my conviction that the official who issued the accused with these documents was aware that they were invalid,” said Mavuso. He proceeded and implored the police to look deeper into the matter and find out how the forged documents ended up in the hands of the accused.
In the meantime, the magistrate asked Mavuso to come out clear if whether he was accusing the immigration officials of issuing forged documents or not. Mavuso however, stated that he was not accusing the officials, but imploring the police to do a further investigation.
Meanwhile, Mavuso further submitted that the accused had actually planned to return to his home country on June 10. He asked the court to allow the accused to secure his return ticket on his own, as opposed to being deported by the state.
The accused was eventually found guilty. He was sentenced to a year in a correctional facility with an option to pay E1 000 on the first count and six months in a correctional facility with an option to pay E500 on the second count. The sentences were ordered to run concurrently.
