A former Ministry of Foreign Affairs em­ployee charged with four corruption-relat­ed offences pleaded not guilty at the Suva Magistrates Court today.

Azreen Shabnam Khan was charged by the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC) with one count each of “Abuse of Of­fice”, “Obtain­ing a Financial Adva n t a g e ” , “Causing a Loss” and “Giv­ing False Infor­mation to Pub­lic Servant” in August.

During the court sitting, FI­CAC State Coun­sel Laite Bokini told the court that prosecution would not rely on the caution interview.

The former Second Secretary to the Fiji High Commission in New Delhi was al­leged to have fraudulently caused payments amounting to FJ$40,559.37 from last Janu­ary to this March from monthly allowances sent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

She allegedly certified 35 payment vouchers to receive FJ$26,214.44 and fur­ther caused the certifying of 15 payment vouchers for various claims amounting to FJ$14,344.93.

Furthermore, she is alleged to have given the former Acting Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs false infor­mation regarding the interviews and ap­pointments of Locally Engaged Staff (LES), employed by the Fiji High Commission in New Delhi, which then led the Acting PS to approve the employment of the LES.

Resident Magistrate Liyanage Wickra­masekara extended bail for the accused.

The matter was adjourned to November 29, 2018, to fix a hearing date.

Source: FICAC