San Fernando attorney committed to stand trial on fraud charges

A San Fernando attorney has been committed to stand trial on fraud charges.

On Wednesday, magistrate Adia Mohammed committed attorney Ravi Gooljar to stand trial on allegations of cheating the public revenue and uttering a forged document.

Gooljar, 63, a former prosecutor, was before the court on charges brought by tax investigators with the Board of Inland Revenue (BIR).

Charges were also laid against Gooljar’s company Colossus and it, too, was committed to stand trial by Mohammed.

Prosecuting on behalf of the BIR was attorney Evans Welch while Gooljar was represented by attorney Chantal Paul.

The committal of the attorney and his company came after the magistrate overruled a no-case submission advanced by Gooljar’s attorneys.

In her ruling, Mohammed accepted Welch’s submissions that a prima facie case had been made out against the two based on the evidence presented to the court by the prosecution during the preliminary inquiry.

It was alleged that in May 2014, the State was cheated of some $222,554.434 in stamp duties due on a deed of conveyance which was presented to the Registrar General Department of the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs. In an unrelated civil trial, the deed was set aside and ordered to be expunged from the RG’s office.

After delivering a decision on the committal, Mohammed granted Gooljar $300,000 bail.