The court hearing regarding the abuse of office charges against former Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum was postponed yesterday. The session was intended to allow the State prosecution to address the defense’s challenge to the charges that had been endorsed by former Acting Director of Public Prosecutions John Rabuku.
The postponement was due to all magistrates being occupied with a conference in Suva this week. The application has been rescheduled for next Tuesday at the Suva Magistrate’s Court under Magistrate Yogesh Prasad. In the meantime, the prosecution’s request to merge the files for both accused individuals will be paused.
In a related matter, Sayed-Khaiyum has been excused from attending the next court session. Magistrate Joji Boseiwaqa approved this request while overseeing the case involving Sayed-Khaiyum and former Supervisor of Elections, Mohammed Saneem, both facing abuse of office accusations. Sayed-Khaiyum is charged with one count of abuse of office for allegedly signing a Deed of Variation and Addendum between the Government of Fiji and Saneem.
Following this agreement, Saneem was accused of receiving a corrupt benefit of $55,944.03 in back pay from Sayed-Khaiyum. During the court proceedings, Sayed-Khaiyum’s defense attorney, Devanesh Sharma, requested that his client’s presence be waived due to health reasons. The court granted this request, allowing only Saneem to appear at the upcoming session.