The court proceedings for former Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, who is facing charges of abuse of office, were postponed yesterday. The session was intended to address the State prosecution’s reply to the defense’s challenge regarding the charge sanctioned by former Acting Director of Public Prosecutions John Rabuku.
The adjournment was necessary as all magistrates are attending a conference in Suva this week. The case has been rescheduled for next Tuesday at the Suva Magistrate’s Court, under the supervision of Magistrate Yogesh Prasad. The prosecution’s motion to aggregate the case files for both Sayed-Khaiyum and Mohammed Saneem will remain on hold until the upcoming hearing.
Additionally, Sayed-Khaiyum will not be present at the next court session. Magistrate Joji Boseiwaqa approved this request during a discussion of the abuse of office case involving Sayed-Khaiyum and former Supervisor of Elections, Mohammed Saneem.
Sayed-Khaiyum is charged with one count of abuse of office for allegedly signing a Deed of Variation and Addendum between the Government of Fiji and Saneem. Following this arrangement, Saneem was accused of receiving a corrupt benefit of $55,944.03 in back pay from Sayed-Khaiyum.
During the hearing, Sayed-Khaiyum’s attorney, Devanesh Sharma, requested to excuse his client from attendance due to health concerns. The court granted this request, allowing only Saneem to appear in the next session.