Computer technician denies 17 visa fraud charges

Dhanraj Raghubir, who is alleged to be behind a massive visa fraud where he received over $1 million from persons for visa application fees, made another appearance before a city court yesterday.

This time, Raghubir, a computer technician, made an appearance to plead to the 17 indictable charges that were read at the last court hearing, held on February 10th before the Chief Magistrate, as the prosecution made the decision to have the matters tried summarily.

Dhanraj Raghubir
Dhanraj Raghubir

The accused pleaded not guilty to the charges, which stated that he, during the months of July 2015 and September through December, 2015, took a total of $1,419,160 from persons under the guise of either making payments to the Bank of Baroda for United States visa applications, or for bank draft fees related to United Kingdom and Canadian visa applications.

When Raghubir’s attorney attempted to make a bail application on his behalf, the move was halted by Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan. He is scheduled to return to court on March 31st.

When Raghubir made his first appearance in court on December 31st, it was to answer to two charges of fraud. The first charge stated that on October 25th, at Georgetown, with intent to defraud, he forged one United States of America embassy appointment letter.

The second charge stated that on October 25th, at Georgetown, he uttered to Vanessa Gomes a United States of America embassy appointment letter purported to be issued by the US Embassy, knowing same to be false.

He had denied both allegations and was placed on $50,000 bail.

After the story was broadcast in the media, 19 other persons reportedly turned up at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) claiming he obtained a total of $1 million from them to assist with procuring United States visas.