No case to answer ruling deferred
THE Suva Magistrates Court has deferred the no case to answer ruling in the matter involving former Fijian ambassador to the United States, Solo Mara.
The matter was called yesterday before chief magistrate Usaia Ratuvili.
Mr Ratuvili told both parties the court had received the no case to answer submissions filed by the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC) on Tuesday this week.
FICAC lawyer Darren Hicks then informed the court that FICAC had filed its submissions on November 20.
Mr Hicks also said FICAC would not have any objections if the defence sought time to file responses to its submissions.
Mr Mara’s lawyer, Sharoneel Deo, sought seven days to file their responses. During the hearing earlier, the defence had made no case to answer submissions on the grounds there had been no breach of the search warrant by his client.
They had also claimed the search warrant executed on the night of January 24, 2020 was done illegally since there had been no authority given by a magistrate to do so at night.
Mr Mara was charged by FICAC in January with one count each of disobedience of lawful order and giving false or misleading information. He is on bail. The case will now be called on December 11 for ruling.
Meanwhile, Mr Mara also has another case before the court in which he was charged by FICAC with one count each of obtaining a financial advantage and causing a loss.
He was alleged to have caused payments to be made to himself from the Fiji Embassy in Washington DC amounting to $US18,700.19, equivalent to $F38,481.17, between September 2016 and October 2017 while serving as the Fijian ambassador to the US.
The matter will also be called on December 11.