Court rejects Saneem as fifth witness

The Suva Magistrates Court has dismissed the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption’s (FICAC) application to include former Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem as a fifth witness and admit his statement as evidence.

Resident Magistrate Yogesh Prasad made the ruling this morning following a second preliminary hearing on Monday in the case against former Deputy Prime Minister Biman Prasad.

Prasad is accused of failing to comply with statutory disclosure requirements and, alternatively, providing false information in a statutory declaration.

FICAC had sought to introduce two additional documents, including Saneem’s statement and a certified copy of the Memorandum of Association.

In his ruling, Magistrate Prasad said FICAC had failed to disclose the additional evidence despite six pre-trial conferences.

He said FICAC had instead come to court confirming it was ready for trial.

However, the court allowed the Memorandum of Association to be admitted as prosecution evidence.

The case has now entered another preliminary issue after defence lawyer Richard Naidu questioned whether there was other material FICAC had not disclosed to the defence.

Naidu told the court he had recently become aware that two of the four witness statements had been forwarded from another investigation file.

He said if that was the case, there was no way of knowing what other material from that file FICAC intended to use in the current case.

Naidu said the defence had no intention of proceeding with the trial until those questions were answered.

FICAC Manager Legal Joseph Work told the court he was not in a position to answer the questions because FICAC had only disclosed material handed to it by the investigating officer.

Work said multiple complaints had been made against Prasad.

However, he said further questions about the statements, interviews and investigation would require the presence of the investigating officer, who was in a better position to answer the defence's questions.

The latest preliminary issue has further delayed the trial, with the court set to hear a voir dire this afternoon.

Prasad remains on bail.