The Ba Magistrate’s Court has convicted a man of multiple counts of obtaining property by deception and disappearing overseas after being granted court approval to travel in 2024.
Asif Khan was convicted on 13 counts of obtaining property by deception following a trial conducted in his absence.
Khan, owner of AK Development, made several sales and purchase agreements with individuals for land at Wailailai in Ba, which he did not own. He advertised the land for sale on Facebook and on billboards near his office.
Several witnesses paid significant deposits after being assured the land was legitimately for sale. Witness Shalvin Vikash Chand told the court he paid $5000 in October 2018, before a Justice of the Peace.
Another buyer, Sheik Imtiaz Azam, testified that he paid $7000 for a quarter-acre lot after being personally shown the site by Khan.
Mr Azam said when he failed to receive title to the land after a year, he demanded a refund. He later discovered through the Lands Department that the land was not registered under Khan’s name but under an estate, and
classified as agricultural land and no applications for rezoning or subdivision had ever been lodged.
The court heard that Khan was initially charged in March 2022. In December 2023, he was granted leave to travel to New Zealand.
However, travel records revealed that he departed Fiji for Melbourne, Australia, in January 2024 and never returned.
