A former clerical officer at the Registrar General’s office was sentenced to 14 months in jail by the Suva Magistrates Court yesterday for corruption related offences.

Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC) had charged Poe Dalituimua in 2016 for charges on unauthorised modification of data.

The offences took place in 2012 and 2013 where Dalituimua knowingly caused unauthorised modification of data held in a computer at the Birth, Death and Marriage Registry at the Registrar General’s office, namely, creating a false birth registration number for one Hari Krishna.

Dalituimua had pleaded guilty to the charges and stated in mitigation that he was a first offender, 40-years-old with a child and in his final year of law studies.

Magistrate Shageeth Somaratne stated in the sentencing: “The Government departments are increasingly dependent on computers, which are replacing traditional methods of recording.

“The public officers who are given access to these instruments and data need to follow proper guidelines bearing in their mind that the general public trusts them.

“Hence a custodial sentence is warranted to denounce your behaviour and deter these incidents from happening in public institutions in the future.”

The hearing date for the other accused person, Krishna, has been scheduled for September 13 to 15, this year at the Suva Magistrates Court.

Dalituimua has 28 days to appeal.