Former Fijian Electoral Commission chairperson and lawyer Suresh Chandra has been fined $500,000.

Mr Chandra was found guilty of six counts of professional misconduct by the Independent Legal Services Commission for failing to reconcile funds totaling $2.139 million.

ILSC Commissioner Justice Gihan Kulatunga found Chandra liable for five out of the six professional misconduct charges.

He was a partner of MC Lawyers and the trustee of the MC Lawyers Trust Account no. 9101000000175 kept at Bank of Baroda, Suva branch.

Between October 1, 2016 and September 30, 2019, Chandra, being the principal of the law firm MC Lawyers and the Trustee of MC Lawyers trust account, failed to ensure that trust monies kept in MC Lawyers trust account were not used for unauthorized purposes and failed to properly supervise and monitor all transactions made from MC Lawyers trust account and by reason of such failure the said trust account had an unreconciled amount of $2 million.

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Story by: ashna.kumar@fijisun.com.fj