KUNATUBA, VASU ACQUITTED
BY HIGH COURT FOR ABUSE OF OFFICE
The former Fiji Corrections Service Commissioner (FCS), Ifereimi Vasu, and former acting deputy Commissioner for FCS, Peniasi Kurivitu Kunatuba, have been acquitted. They appeared before Judge Justice Riyaz Hamza at the High Court in Suva yesterday.
Vasu and Kunatuba were each charged with one count of abuse of office while they were employed at the FCS. The charges were by the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC). In his judgment, Justice Hamza said the prosecution had failed to establish beyond reasonable doubt that the two accused persons did arbitrary acts, in abuse of their authority of office or that the said acts were done intentionally. He said in the circumstances, he found Vasu and Kunatuba not guilty.
Charges
It was alleged that Vasu between July 11, 2013 and December 27, 2014, at Suva, while being employed as the commissioner of FCS and as a Director of Naboro Mart Limited, in abuse of the authority of his office, facilitated and approved the purchase of goods to the amount of $131,683.33, from the Naboro Mart Limited. For Kunatuba, it is alleged that between January 31, 2013 and
March 7, 2014, at Suva, while being employed as the Director Corporate Service and acting Deputy Commissioner of FCS, in abuse of the authority of his office facilitated and approved the purchase of goods to the amount of $60,345.65, from the Naboro Mart Limited.
The alleged offences were contrary to the Procurement Regulations 2010 of the Financial Management Act 2004 and the Finance Manual of the FCS, which were acts prejudicial to the rights of the Fiji Government, FCS and the approved Government contractors.