Fifty thousand dollars, or six months in prison for conspiracy, and $30,000 or six months in prison for uttering a forged document, was the sentence handed down to Michael Sinclair who attempted to leave the island on a fake visa.

Sinclair was sentenced in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday.

It is alleged that the accused, who was about to board a flight at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston, was taken into custody after immigration officers realised that his visa was tampered with.

It is reported that the accused man's passport had a visa with a photograph that matched the name Mikhail Mohammed Sinclair.

He was subsequently arrested and charged with forgery and uttering forged document.

"Your Honour, I am begging mercy, please, because I am not the one who put the photo in there. It is a man who win my trust and who told me dat him work up a di embassy. I paid him $130,000. It was when I went to the airport I was told dat it false, and dat mash up my name and my character," the accused said before he was sentenced.

No evidence was offered on the forgery charge. Instead, he was fined for conspiracy and uttering forged document.