‘Persons signing applications need to be more diligent’

Lawyers, Justices of the Peace, police officers and other persons who are entrusted with the responsibility of certifying the authenticity of documents of persons applying for St Vincent and the Grenadines birth certificates and passports, are being urged to take their responsibility more seriously.{{more}}

This appeal came from Chief Immigration Officer, Stanford Hamilton, hours after a Vincentian man returned to this country, having been deported from Canada last Wednesday.

The man had travelled to Canada last December using a fraudulently obtained passport.

“We rely heavily on the several individuals who are given the responsibility by the state for notification, verification, and clarification of the applicants themselves….That is why there is in place a system of verification, where the several persons who have been granted the authority to sign, are used as persons to assist the State, to ensure that the persons who come before them are truly in fact who they say they are…,” Hamilton pointed out in an interview with SEARCHLIGHT.

Yesterday, the deported man, 23-year-old Arnos Vale resident Mark John Dublin, appeared before the Serious Offences Court and pleaded guilty to four charges of fraud and deception.

He was charged with giving Gwendolyn Burgin, a person employed in the public service, a birth certificate in the name of Franco Roberts (deceased) of Diamond, a document which he knew or believed to be false, intended to cause Burgin to issue an SVG identification card on December 20, 2011.

He was also charged with defrauding Gwendolyn Burgin by falsely representing himself to be Franco Roberts, someone other than Mark John Dublin, at Kingstown on December 20, 2011.

On December 22, 2011, Dublin was charged with presenting Kendra Matthias, a person employed in the public service, a birth certificate in the name of Franco Roberts, a document he knew or believed to be false, intending to cause Matthias to issue an SVG passport.

Dublin was further charged with defrauding Matthias by falsely representing himself to be Franco Roberts of Diamond, someone other than Mark John Dublin on December 22, 2011 at Kingstown.

Dublin should re-appear in court today for the facts in the matters and sentencing.

Hamilton noted that it was procedures in place at the Immigration Department which led them to detect that Dublic had been granted documents in different names.

SEARCHLIGHT understands from reliable sources that this was not the first time that Dublin had been deported from Canada. He previously travelled to Canada using a passport in his legal name Mark John Dublin. After being deported, he fraudulently obtained the passport in the name Franco Lorenzo Roberts and re-entered Canada on December 25, 2011.

Hamilton said when the error was identified, the SVG Consulate in Canada was notified and the appropriate actions were taken.

The Immigration head explained that while no system is fool proof, the persons entrusted with the responsibility of signing documents for passport applications must be more vigilant.

He made it clear that law has penalties for persons who fail to take the responsibility that has been granted to them seriously.

“… If we are having people using other birth certificates, it clearly means that the persons who are granted the authority to sign, they are signing to say they have known the person more than five years…. If it turns out to be different, then one has to ask the question whether or not they truly know the person who they claim that they know. If you do that and the individual does not turn out to be who he says he is, then you are signing to a declaration that is false…,” Hamilton continued.

According to Hamilton, the law states that you have to know the person personally and that the authority is not blanket that a Justice of the Peace signs everything that comes before them.

“If you don’t know them, then you should refuse to sign. I am really urging these persons signing these applications to be more diligent when signing for these persons….,” he added.

If the integrity of the St Vincent and the Grenadines passport is to be maintained, it needs the assistance of all concerned, Hamilton said. He mentioned that every aspect of a false declaration that is supported by a signature, helps in some way to make it possible for that individual to receive a document.

“When breaches like these become continuous, then something has to be wrong with the system… more can be done to ensure that we narrow the opportunity for to acquire passports by fraudulent means…,” Hamilton continued.

According to Hamilton, the given practice and standard established at the Registry is that a person applies for a birth certificate and goes through the process to obtain the document. He noted that the birth certificate does not come with a photograph of identification and therefore is accepted on face value of the document.

He however noted that the Immigration Department has been able to reduce by almost 95 per cent, the number of fraudulent applications, since the implementation of machine readable passports.