Mahatma Gandhi’s great-granddaughter jailed for 7 years in Rs 3.22 crore fraud case in South Africa

Ashish Lata Ramgobin, the 56-year-old great-granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi, has been jailed for seven years in a six-million rand (Rs 3.22 crore) fraud and forgery case. Mahatma Gandhi’s great-granddaughter was sentenced by a Durban court docket after she was discovered responsible within the fraud case.Ashish Lata Ramgobin was accused of defrauding businessman SR Maharaj after he superior R6.2 million to her for allegedly clearing import and Customs duties for a non-existent consignment from India. SR Maharaj was promised a share of earnings, PTI reported.Lata Ramgobin, daughter of famous rights activists Ela Gandhi and late Mewa Ramgobind, was additionally refused depart to attraction each the conviction and the sentence by the Durban Specialised Commercial Crime Court.During the trial, Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) had mentioned that Lata Ramgobin allegedly supplied solid invoices and paperwork to persuade buyers that three containers of linen have been being shipped in from India.At that point, Lata Ramgobin was launched on a bail of fifty,000 rand.Lata Ramgobin had met SR Maharaj, director of the New Africa Alliance Footwear Distributors, in August 2015. His firm imports and manufactures and sells clothes, linen and footwear, and likewise gives finance to different firms on a profit-share foundation.Mahatma Gandhi’s great-granddaughter had instructed Maharaj that she had imported three containers of linen for the South African Hospital Group NetCare.NPA spokesperson Natasha Kara mentioned, “Lata Ramgobin said she was experiencing financial difficulties to pay for import costs and customs and she needed the money to clear the goods at the harbour.””She told him [Maharaj] that she needed R6.2 million. To convince him, she showed him what she claimed was a signed purchase order for the goods. Later that month, she sent him what seemed to be a NetCare invoice and delivery note as proof that the goods were delivered and payment was imminent,” the spokesperson mentioned.Lata Ramgobin “further sent him confirmation from NetCare’s bank account that payment had been made”, Kara mentioned. Maharaj entered into an settlement along with her owing to Ramgobin’s household credentials and NetCare paperwork.He later laid legal fees upon discovering that the paperwork have been solid.Ramgobin was founder and govt director of the Participative Development Initiative on the NGO International Centre for Non-Violence, the place she described herself as “an activist with a focus on environmental, societal and political interests.”A variety of different descendants of Mahatma Gandhi are human rights activists and amongst them are Lata Ramgobin’s cousins Kirti Menon, the late Satish Dhupelia, and Uma Dhupelia-Mesthrie. Ramgobin’s mom Ela Gandhi specifically, has been internationally recognised for her efforts, together with nationwide honours from each India and South Africa.