The State will seek a mistrial in the High Court proceedings over the contested Health Tender matter in Suva, the court heard on Monday, after prosecutors complained that repeated defence objections had prejudiced their ability to present key evidence. Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Laisani Tabuakuro told Justice Usaia Ratuvili the prosecution intends to file a formal application, arguing the defence’s tactics have undermined the trial’s proper conduct.
Tabuakuro told the court the heart of the dispute is a series of emails the State relies on, and that defence counsel began raising objections to that evidence only after the trial had already begun. The ADPP said the emails had been provided to the defence months earlier as part of full disclosure, yet formal challenges to their admissibility were only advanced mid-trial. She submitted those late objections have repeatedly interrupted the prosecution’s case and prejudiced the State’s ability to present witnesses and corroborating material.
Defence lawyer Wylie Clarke, who represents former Health Minister Dr Neil Sharma, strongly rejected the suggestion that his conduct warranted a mistrial. Clarke maintained that testing the admissibility and legality of evidence is a routine part of ensuring a fair hearing and must be done when the evidence is called in court. He also raised a separate legal concern, telling the judge the State had not produced a search warrant or other material to explain how investigators obtained the contested emails.
Devanesh Sharma, another lawyer for the defence team, supported Clarke’s submissions in court and emphasised that procedural and legal challenges to evidence during trial are standard practice and necessary to protect an accused’s rights. Defence counsel argued that timing alone does not amount to abuse of process and that the court should not equate legitimate evidentiary objections with action that would automatically derail the trial.
Presiding Justice Usaia Ratuvili set a tight timetable for resolving the dispute. The State has until tomorrow afternoon to file its formal mistrial application; the defence has until next Monday to file responses; and Justice Ratuvili indicated he expects to deliver a ruling on the application next Tuesday. The judge gave no immediate indication of how he might rule but framed the schedule to bring the contest of legal arguments before him quickly.
The application marks a critical procedural turning point in the trial. If the mistrial is granted, it could halt the current proceedings and lead to a re-start or other remedial steps depending on the judge’s findings about prejudice and the legality of evidence collection. If the application is dismissed, the trial is likely to resume with the contested email evidence tested through witness examination and legal rulings on admissibility. The outcome of next week’s hearing will therefore determine the immediate path for the High Court case.
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