Mercy Process Questioned on Patel's Presidential Pardon

There’s growing skepticism on why Mahendralal Patel, also known as Mahendra Motibhai Patel, was granted a Presidential pardon despite not serving his conviction.

Mr Patel, was charged with Abuse of Office in 2006, and convicted in absentia on November 20, 2014. He was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment.

However, he did not serve his term because the court granted him leave to travel overseas for medical treatment; he did not return from his medical leave.

This masthead has been trying to contact the Attorney-General who is also the chair of the Mercy Com-mission, Graham Leung since Sunday for clarification on the conditional pardon granted to Mr Patel, but no response has been received.

A follow-up was made yesterday but still no response was received when this edition went to press.

Fiji Corrections Service (FCS) Commissioner Jalesi Nakarawa confirmed Mr Patel's name was not part of the FCS list submitted to the Mercy Commission.

FCS’s release list last Thursday afternoon did not include Mr Patel’s name.

However, less than half an hour later, Fiji Government’s Facebook page published the names of those who were pardoned, including Mr Patel’s.

“FCS facilitates applications submitted by convicted prisoners.

They submit their petitions, and we process them and then submit them to the Mercy Commission,” Mr Nakarawa said.

“For Patel, we didn’t know any-thing about it. His name was not on our list because he was not in our custody,” he said.

“So, I have no idea how his peti-tion went to the Mercy Commis-sion; I only handle the cases of con-victed prisoners under our care.”

Petition

A statement by the Mercy Commission last Thursday stated that Mr Patel submitted a petition to the Mercy Commission earlier on April 4, 2023, but was dismissed.

On June 13, this year, the Commission received a letter for reconsideration of Mr Patel’s petition from his lawyers, the Commission said.

The Commission deliberated on his second petition and considered his age, the length of time he was away from Fiji and his substantial contribution to the nation.

“As a result, the Commission rec-ommended a conditional pardon for Mr Patel, contingent on his not reoffending,” the Commission said.

“His Excellency, the President, has acted on the recommendations of the Mercy Commission under Section 119(5) of the Constitution on 18 September 2024.

“The Commission confirms that its decisions have been made in accordance with the Constitution.”

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