Two brothers from Lautoka, Fiji, were sentenced to serve two years in Hu'atolitoli Prison today, for the manufacturing and using of counterfeit Tongan notes amounting to $600.

Nasif Naushad Ali (35) and Satye Sai Raju (29) appeared in the Nuku'alofa Supreme Court for sentencing by Chief Justice Anthony Ford.

Ali pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing counterfeit materials and making counterfeit pa'anga notes, while his younger brother Raju pleaded guilty to three counts of making counterfeit notes and putting it out into circulation.

The court was told that on May 3, 2008 Ali was at his home in Ma'ufanga and he used his computer and a colour printer to print ten $50 pa'anga notes on A4 size paper. He also used the same process to print five copies of $20 pa'anga notes, which he learnt from a friend in Fiji.

Raju assisted Ali in the process by using a cutter to cut up the notes before going out to do some shopping to test it. They were arrested shortly a few days after when a shopkeeper recognised the counterfeit notes.

Deterrent sentence

The Chief Justice said an offence of this kind is very serious for which the maximum penalty is 10 years imprisonment.

"The court must pass an imprisonment sentence to deter other people from following your example.

"You produced two batches of notes and it is clear if the shopkeeper did not pick it up you would have manufactured more," he added.

"This is a major problem in third world countries and we do not want to see it a problem in this Kingdom," stressed the Chief Justice.

He also said he had seen the counterfeit notes and they look genuine.

He told Ali if it were not for his guilty plea he would have imposed on him a three and a half years prison sentence. Ali was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment for possessing counterfeit materials and two years for making counterfeit money. The sentence is concurrent which means Ali will serve two years in total.

Ali who had a previous conviction of housebreaking was not entitled to a suspended sentence.

The Chief Justice then sentenced Raju to two years imprisonment for making counterfeit notes and 18 months imprisonment each for two counts of putting out the notes into circulation when he used it for shopping. But after considering his early guilty plea and having no previous conviction, he suspended the last six months of his sentence for three years meaning Raju will only serve 18 months in total.

Sifa Tu'utafaiva represented the two accused and the Crown counsel was Semisi Lutui.