There is increasing doubt regarding the Presidential pardon granted to Mahendralal Patel, also known as Mahendra Motibhai Patel, who was convicted without serving his sentence.
Patel faced charges for Abuse of Office in 2006 and was convicted in absentia on November 20, 2014, receiving a 12-month prison sentence. However, he did not serve this time as the court allowed him to travel abroad for medical treatment, from which he did not return.
Efforts to reach Attorney-General Graham Leung, who chairs the Mercy Commission, for comments on the pardon have been unsuccessful since Sunday. A follow-up attempt yielded no response before the publication of this article.
Jalesi Nakarawa, Commissioner of the Fiji Corrections Service (FCS), stated that Patel’s name was not included in the list submitted to the Mercy Commission. This was confirmed when the FCS’s release list was made available last Thursday afternoon, which also did not mention Patel.
Despite this, shortly after the FCS announcement, the Fiji Government’s Facebook page shared the names of individuals who received pardons, which included Patel. Nakarawa commented that FCS processes applications from incarcerated individuals and was unaware of Patel’s petition, as he was not under their care.
A statement from the Mercy Commission noted that Patel had submitted a petition for a pardon on April 4, 2023, which was initially dismissed. However, after receiving a request for reconsideration from his lawyers on June 13, they reviewed the circumstances, including Patel’s age, the duration of his absence from Fiji, and his contributions to the nation. Subsequently, the Commission recommended a conditional pardon, which was granted by the President on September 18, 2024, following the Commission’s recommendations in alignment with the Constitution.