Rabuka On Bail
■ He is charged with one count of providing false declaration of assets, income and liabilities. ■ Case has been adjourned to June 6 for his plea to be taken ■ A stop departure order was also issued against the SODELPA leader
SODELPA leader Sitiveni Ligamamada Rabuka has been released on bailed after he appeared in the Suva Magistrates Court yesterday charged with one count of providing false declaration of assets, income and liabilities.
Appearing before Magistrate Jioji Boseiwaqa, he was warned not to reoffend while on bail. The warning came while Magistrate Boseiwaqa granted Rabuka’s bail at $300 each to be bonded to his two sureties.
He was also warned not to interfere with Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption witnesses and not change his residential address without informing the court.
Rabuka was represented by lawyers Filimoni Vosarogo and Lynda Tabuya. He is charged with one count of providing false declaration of assets, income and liabilities.
FICAC lawyer Rashmi Aslam said the accused was charged under Section 24 (1) (a) and 24 (5) of the Political Parties (Registration, Conduct, Funding and Disclosures) Act of 2013. The charge states that on or about December 29, 2017 as the leader of registered political party namely SODELPA, Rabuka allegedly provided a false declaration of assets and liabilities to the Supervisor of Elections.
He allegedly did this by failing to provide information namely, the tax liability with Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS) in the amount of $316,956.20, the investment and interest income with Raghwan Construction Limited in the amount of $200,000 and $16,000 respectively and the liability with said Raghwan Construction Limited in the amount of $120,000. Mr Aslam said they had served the accused with first phase disclosures and to serve full phase disclosures as early as next week. Mr Aslam quoted Section 18 (a) of the 2014 Electoral Act, which says that “A court must promptly make a decision with respect to a charge filed for an election related offence under this Act, the Electoral (Registration of Voters) Act 2012 and the Political Parties (Registration, Conduct, Funding and Disclosures) Act 2013.”
Accordingly, he requested the court to expedite the matter and for a short mention date to be given. Mr Aslam also indicated that FICAC was not objecting to bail provided that bail conditions were imposed by the court.
Mr Vosarogo confirmed that they had been served with the charge sheet and had served FICAC with Rabuka’s bail application.
He said they had only received a disc containing Rabuka’s caution interview and his charge, but were yet to be supplied with the written form of Rabuka’s interview. Mr Vosarogo requested that his client be released on bail and suggested that he report to either FICAC or the nearest Police Station once a month.
Before granting Rabuka’s bail, Magistrate Boseiwaqa informed all the lawyers that his father had
attended school with the accused in the 1960s. He asked the lawyers if they had any issues with him presiding over Rabuka’s case because of that. The lawyers agreed that they would inform him of the same on the next court date.
Further to his bail conditions, Rabuka was ordered to report to the Nabua Police Station on the first Saturday of every month between 6am and 6pm.
A stop departure order was also issued against him and the Department of Immigration is to be informed accordingly.
His case has been adjourned to June 6, 2018 for his plea to be taken.