The court proceedings regarding the abuse of office charge against former Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum were postponed yesterday. The session was meant to address the State prosecution’s response to the defense’s challenge of the charge, which had been endorsed by former Acting Director of Public Prosecutions John Rabuku.
The adjournment occurred because all magistrates were attending a conference in Suva this week. The application is now scheduled to be reviewed next Tuesday at the Suva Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate Yogesh Prasad. Meanwhile, the prosecution’s request to merge the case files for both individuals will be temporarily on hold until the matter is resolved.
In related news, Sayed-Khaiyum will not be present at the next court session. Magistrate Joji Boseiwaqa approved this request while addressing the case of Sayed-Khaiyum alongside former Supervisor of Elections, Mohammed Saneem, who is also facing an abuse of office charge. Sayed-Khaiyum is accused of signing a Deed of Variation and Addendum between the Government of Fiji and Saneem, which allegedly resulted in Saneem receiving a corrupt benefit of $55,944.03 as back-pay from Sayed-Khaiyum.
During the hearing, defense attorney Devanesh Sharma requested that Sayed-Khaiyum be excused from attending due to health concerns. The court granted this request, meaning that only Saneem will be present at the next session.