A key procurement official told the High Court on Thursday that the Government Tenders Board (GTB) never received files for two health-sector tenders at the centre of an abuse-of-office prosecution, a development the State says undercuts any claim the board formally considered or approved the disputed procurement actions.
Former GTB secretary Abraham Wilson, who also served as a senior procurement officer with the Fiji Procurement Office, testified that tender documents for CTN 66/2011 and CTN 153/2011 were never tabled before the board. Wilson outlined how the GTB’s three-stage evaluation process was designed to protect fairness and technical compliance: administrative checks for paperwork such as tax certificates and company registration; technical evaluation against detailed specifications, with non-compliant bids disqualified; and finally financial evaluation limited to bids that passed the technical stage.
Justice Usaia Ratuvili heard that CTN 66/2011 related to procurement of new laboratory equipment for subdivisional hospitals, while CTN 153/2011 concerned the purchase of three automated biochemistry analysers. Wilson said in court that tender documents are addressed to the permanent secretary of the procuring ministry and, once dispatched from his office, the permanent secretary had no control over who accessed them — a point the State is using to challenge the legality of later actions allegedly taken outside formal procurement channels.
The State alleges former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and former attorney-general Aiyaz Sayed‑Khaiyum recklessly abused their positions by granting a waiver of the tender process without lawful justification and in breach of the Procurement Regulation 2010. Prosecutors also say former health minister Dr Neil Sharma intentionally failed to comply with statutory requirements and took steps to undermine the competitive process in favour of a single bidder, Hospineer.
Wilson’s evidence that the GTB never received the tender papers is the latest factual development the prosecution says reinforces its contention that essential statutory and regulatory safeguards were bypassed. If the GTB was not formally in receipt of the files, the State argues, any executive action to waive or divert the procurement process could not have been grounded in the board’s consideration or approval.
No defence witness testimony was reported in the brief hearing summary, and the court record does not yet show any response from the accused to Wilson’s assertions during this sitting. The trial is ongoing, with the matter listed to continue today, and further witness evidence expected to address how the procurement decisions were communicated and executed within the Health Ministry and across central government.
The contested tenders form part of a broader challenge to procurements undertaken during the time the accused held office. The outcome of the trial will turn on whether the prosecution can demonstrate beyond reasonable doubt that statutory procurement processes were deliberately circumvented and that such conduct benefited a particular supplier.
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