A former civil servant, Viliame Katia, who is currently serving a prison sentence, had his non-parole period reduced from 22 years to 20 years by the Supreme Court. Katia, the former acting deputy official receiver, was initially sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2017 after being found guilty of corrupt practices that led to a loss of $4.1 million from the Office of the Receiver’s bankruptcy and liquidation accounts. His convictions included multiple counts related to corruption, abuse of office, forgery, embezzlement, providing false information, unauthorized data modification, and obtaining a financial advantage.
In 2018, following an appeal by the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption, Katia was re-sentenced to 23 years with a non-parole period of 22 years by acting Chief Justice Salesi Temo. Subsequently, he appealed the sentence 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 there has been no restitution of the embezzled funds, Katia is still relatively young and may have the opportunity for redemption upon his release.