There is increasing doubt regarding the decision to grant a Presidential pardon to Mahendralal Patel, also known as Mahendra Motibhai Patel, given that he did not serve his sentence. Patel was charged with Abuse of Office in 2006 and was convicted in absentia on November 20, 2014, receiving a 12-month prison sentence. He did not fulfill this sentence as the court allowed him to travel abroad for medical treatment, from which he did not return.
Attempts to reach out to the Attorney-General and Mercy Commission chair Graham Leung for clarification on Patel’s conditional pardon have so far been unsuccessful. Follow-up inquiries have also gone unanswered, according to the publication’s timeline.
Fiji Corrections Service (FCS) Commissioner Jalesi Nakarawa verified that Patel’s name was not included in the FCS list submitted to the Mercy Commission, and a release list from the FCS did not feature him. Despite this, just 30 minutes later, the Fiji Government’s Facebook page listed Patel among those who received pardons.
Nakarawa noted, “FCS facilitates applications submitted by convicted prisoners. They submit their petitions, and we process them before handing them to the Mercy Commission.” He expressed confusion as to how Patel’s petition was submitted since he was not in their custody.
A statement from the Mercy Commission on the previous Thursday explained that Patel submitted an initial petition on April 4, 2023, which was dismissed. However, on June 13, the Commission received a request from Patel’s lawyers to reconsider the petition. The Commission took into account Patel’s age, his absence from Fiji, and his contributions to the country. Consequently, a recommendation for a conditional pardon was made, dependent on Patel’s future behavior.
The President acted upon the Mercy Commission’s recommendations on September 18, 2024, confirming that their actions adhered to constitutional provisions.