Ashish Lata Ramgobin, the great granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi has been accused in a six million rand fraud and forgery case. She has been sentenced to 7 years in jail by a South African court in Durban.
The 56 year old Ramgobin is the founder and executive director of the Participative Development Initiative at the NGO International Centre for Non-Violence. She is the daughter of noted rights activist Ela Gandhi and late Mewa Ramgobind. She has been accused of defrauding a businessman after he advanced South African rand 6.2 million to her for allegedly clearing import and custom duties for a non-existent consignment from India. She allegedly provided forged invoices and documents to convince potential investors that three containers of linen were being shipped in from India.
She is said to have told the businessman Maharaj that she had financial difficulties to pay for import costs and customs and that she required the 6.2 million to clear the goods at the harbour. She provided forged invoices and documents. On coming to know that the entire transactions were fake, Maharaj instituted criminal charges against Ramgobin.
