The former CEO of Post Fiji Pte Limited, Anirudha Bansod, has been sentenced to one and a half years in prison for abuse of office. The sentence was handed down by Magistrate Yogesh Prasad at the Suva Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.
Bansod was convicted of submitting a false confidentiality and conflict of interest declaration related to the tender process for the design, development, and implementation of the Post Fiji Mobile Application. The contract was awarded to TechnoBase IT Solutions PVT Limited, an Indian firm with which Bansod had personal ties.
The court revealed that Bansod had communicated with Vaibhav Deshpande from TechnoBase IT Solutions through WhatsApp, sharing confidential information that helped the company secure the e-Wallet services contract.
Although Bansod is a first-time offender and expressed remorse, his guilty plea came too late in the prosecution’s case for it to have a mitigating impact. Magistrate Prasad emphasized that the offense compromised the integrity of government institutions, leading him to decline the suspension of the sentence.
Bansod has 28 days to appeal the ruling at the High Court in Suva.