Jail for former ministry worker

THE Magistrates Court in Suva has sentenced a former project technical officer with the Ministry of Health and Medical Services to 17 months imprisonment.

Mohammed Ifraz was charged by the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC) in February with one count each of forgery and using forged documents.

He pleaded guilty to the offences and was convicted accordingly in September.

He had admitted to using the paint application on his laptop to make false certificates from the Fiji Institute of Technology (FIT) and Fiji National University (FNU) and attempted to use them to gain employment with the Ministry of Health and Medical Services.

Magistrate Asanga Bodaragama said the offences committed were a serious breach of trust by an employee against his employer.

“You were a civil servant and no person would be recruited to the civil service if he had no good character,” he said.

Mr Bodaragama highlighted the MOH, as a government institute, was extremely important to Fiji as a nation, especially during a period of pandemic and people who worked in these state institutions were expected to be honest and hardworking.

He stated the court was entrusted with the duty of upholding public confidence in the system of the administration of justice. He said serious offences should not be treated leniently to send a clear message to would-be offenders.

Ifraz will serve five months behind bars with the remaining 12 months suspended for five years.