Fiji’s first human trafficking case got underway this morning in the Suva High Court.

The accused, Kadali Murti, appeared in front of High Court judge Justice Daniel Gounder charged with one count of trafficking in person and seven counts of obtaining money by deception.

It is alleged that between the 1st of May up until the 10th of September this year, Murti facilitated the entry of seven Indian nationals namely Tara Chand, Yadvinder Singh, Tejbeer, Vijay Kumar, Jaswinder Singh and Lahkvir into the country telling them they would work as food packers at Marvin Farm Limited in New Zealand, if they paid him 150,000 rupees or $4,300 NZD equivalent to $6,093.99 FJD.

The first witness Tara Chand took to the stand this morning stressing that he would not have handed over the money to Murti if he knew that they would not reach their destination.

While giving witness today, Chand informed the High Court that he had used up all his personal savings of 60,000 rupees and also took out a private loan of 90,000 rupees in order to meet Murti’s demands.

He added that he along with the six others had to meet Murti at the airport in New Delhi on the 8th of September and were told to wait for the call for the flight to Nadi.

Chand said since this was his first trip out of India, he asked Murti where Nadi was, to which Murti had informed the group that Nadi was a city in New Zealand.

Meanwhile, Legal Aid lawyer Naomi Nawaseitoga then asked Chand if he was implicating Murti so that he and the six others could just get back home quickly as they had been in the country since the 10th of September.

However, Chand replied that while they missed home, they were told by immigration officers that they were to be state witnesses and decided to stay in the country.

He added that when they arrived into the Nadi International Airport, Immigration informed them that their papers were incomplete and were remanded in custody.

Chand said that when they asked Murti what was happening, he informed them that the person that was to meet them had not cleared them with Immigration and therefore they needed to get on a 3 hour domestic flight to New Zealand.

Chand said they only got to find out that they were in another country and that Nadi was not in New Zealand later in the day when they were detained by Immigration.

The case continues this afternoon where another Indian national is expected to give witness.


Story by: Paradise Tabucala