Justin Ho has received a suspended sentence from the Nadi Magistrates Court following his guilty plea to an amended charge of using false or misleading documents. The incident involved Ho submitting two Taxpayer Identification Numbers (TINs) belonging to individuals other than himself to a Senior Customs Officer in order to secure the release of a consignment, fully aware that the information was fraudulent.
The court originally sentenced Ho to 18 months in prison. However, taking into account mitigating factors, including his status as a first-time offender and his voluntary guilty plea, the judge reduced the sentence to nine months and suspended it entirely for three years. The court concluded that since no financial loss was incurred by the government entity involved, a custodial sentence was not necessary for deterrence purposes.