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Cloning an SUV Using Dead Men’s Names
posted (June 8, 2016)

Five years after he was busted for having an SUV that never paid duty,
Chinese businessman Jian Jiang, was hit with a steep fine for it today.  The Mitsubishi Nativa was valued at 50 thousand dollars and he has to pay three times the value, so that’s one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.  And he has to pay by December 31st. 

The vehicle is a white Mitsubishi Nativa which had a bogus VIN number etched unto the chassis. 

Jiang was charged with acquiring possession of an un-customed vehicle and recklessly acquiring possession of a vehicle for which the VIN was tampered.  The Customs department Prosecutor Tracey Sosa called 10 witnesses, based on an elaborate investigation built by Customs Officer Adrian Gibson. 

They found that the Nativa which Jiang bought had been cloned with the registration of one that had paid duty.  With the collusion of the City Traffic Department, in 2011, the fraudsters took the particulars of a Nativa that was legitimately sold from the dealer to deceased businessman Sunil Sadarangani.  They then tried to mask the trail of this new cloned vehicle by transferring the ownership a number of times, even using the name of the now deceased Charles Solis.  His son testified that when the vehicle was purportedly transferred into his father’s name, his father was dead. 

Now, while this whose fraud was being perpetrated, Sadarangani’s vehicle was legitimately sold to a Mennonite businessman – but a clone of the vehicle’s registration details and VIN number ended up with Jiang.  These were put unto a vehicle that was imported, or more likely smuggled in, without ever paying duty.

It’s quite a piece of work, and Jiang was found guilty and fined $149,085 today by Senior Magistrate Sharon Fraser. If Jiang, who owns a restaurant on Orange Street can’t pay by the end of this year he will serve 2 years in jail. Jiang testified that he bought the Mitsubishi for $30,000 and he did know the duty was not paid. Charges were withdrawn against the man who sold him the vehicle, Mohammed Hamze. 

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