A former civil servant who is currently imprisoned has had his non-parole period reduced from 22 years to 20 years by the Supreme Court. Viliame Katia, the former acting deputy official receiver, was initially convicted in 2017 of corrupt practices that led to a loss of $4.1 million from the bankruptcy and liquidation accounts of the Office of the Receiver. He received a 14-year sentence from Suva magistrate Shageeth Somaratne for 11 counts of corruption, along with charges including abuse of office, forgery, embezzlement, providing false information to a public servant, unauthorized data modification, and obtaining financial advantage.
In 2018, following an appeal from the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption, Katia’s sentence was increased to 23 years with a non-parole period of 22 years by acting Chief Justice Salesi Temo. Katia later appealed this decision to the Supreme Court, which held a hearing on August 16.
In their ruling, Justices Anthony Gates, Dame Lowell Patricia Goddard, and Alipate Qetaki noted that while no restitution of the embezzled funds had been made, Katia, being relatively young, still has the potential for redemption and can become a law-abiding citizen after serving his sentence.