The court session regarding the abuse of office charge against former Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum was postponed yesterday. The hearing was set to address the State prosecution’s reply to the defense’s challenge of the charge that was approved by former Acting Director of Public Prosecutions John Rabuku. The adjournment occurred as all magistrates were attending a conference in Suva this week.
The case will now be heard next Tuesday at the Suva Magistrate’s Court with Magistrate Yogesh Prasad presiding. Until the hearing, the prosecution’s application to merge the files for both individuals involved will be paused.
In a related matter, Sayed-Khaiyum will not be present at the next court session. Magistrate Joji Boseiwaqa approved this request during the hearing of Sayed-Khaiyum and former Supervisor of Elections, Mohammed Saneem’s abuse of office case. Sayed-Khaiyum faces one count of abuse of office, accused of signing a Deed of Variation and Addendum between the Government of Fiji and Saneem. Subsequently, Saneem was charged with receiving a corrupt benefit of $55,944.03 on his back-pay from Sayed-Khaiyum.
The defense attorney, Devanesh Sharma, requested that Sayed-Khaiyum be excused from appearing due to health concerns, which the court granted. As a result, only Saneem will be present at the upcoming session.