The court hearing regarding the abuse of office charges against former Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum was postponed yesterday. The session was meant to address the state prosecution’s response to the defense’s challenge of the charge initiated by former Acting Director of Public Prosecutions, John Rabuku. The delay occurred as all magistrates were attending a conference in Suva this week.
The case is rescheduled for next Tuesday at the Suva Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate Yogesh Prasad. Until the hearing takes place, the prosecution’s application to merge the files of both defendants will be paused.
Sayed-Khaiyum, who is facing a single count of abuse of office for allegedly signing a Deed of Variation and Addendum between the Government of Fiji and former Supervisor of Election Mohammed Saneem, will not be present at the next court session. Magistrate Joji Boseiwaqa approved this request during the proceedings concerning Sayed-Khaiyum and Saneem’s abuse of office case.
Saneem has been charged with receiving a corrupt benefit of $55,944.03 related to his back-pay from Sayed-Khaiyum. During the hearing, defense attorney Devanesh Sharma requested that Sayed-Khaiyum’s absence be accepted due to health issues, and the court complied, resulting in only Saneem appearing at the forthcoming sitting.