The attorney for former fisheries minister Kalaveti Ravu has not yet received additional requested disclosures from the prosecution. Lawyer Lavi Rokoika updated the court, stating that her request submitted on August 19 remains unfulfilled.
Rokoika mentioned that she had also asked the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC) to reconsider the charges against Ravu. However, the prosecution has confirmed its intention to move forward with the existing charge.
She indicated that the agreed facts would be prepared and submitted within the next 21 days and proposed that a trial date be scheduled, regardless of the disclosures.
FICAC prosecutor Lavenia Ravuikadavu recommended that the pre-trial conference be completed first, although she expressed no objections to setting a trial date.
Ravu is accused of obstructing a lawful investigation pertaining to the suspected illegal trade of a prohibited species of beche-de-mer. Tekata Toaisi, the regional manager for the Ministry of Fisheries and Forests in the North, has pleaded not guilty to charges of assisting the former minister between July and August of last year.
Both Ravu and Toaisi appeared before Magistrate Jeremaia Savou yesterday and are scheduled to return to the Suva Magistrate’s Court on September 19.