Former acting chief executive and general manager of the Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF), Parmod Achary has filed a notice and memorandum of appeal against his conviction.
Achary, in his role as the Vanuatu National Provident Fund general manager, was found guilty of five counts of indecency without consent and other five counts of breach of the Leadership Code Act [CAP 240] between 2020 and 2021.
He resigned ahead of a decision from the VNPF Board and confirmed to the Vanuatu Daily Post that he resigned to protect VNPF’s reputation.
Achary’s appeal is scheduled for this week.
Meanwhile, the office of the Public Prosecutor stated that they will appeal against the sentencing and they have 14 days to submit the appeal.
On 2 July, the Supreme Court delivered a sentence of 18 months in jail to Achary, suspended for two years after he was found guilty of indecency without consent.
He was also ordered to pay a fine of VT200,000 to each of the five victims within a period of three months, for his failure to comply with and observe the law, and breaching the Leadership Code Act.
The court said the reason for the sentence suspension was that although the offending was serious, there was no skin-to-skin genitalia contact.
Achary has had 71 years of good character, the strong support of his family and community, plus his contributions to the community and strong family and community ties that helped favour the sentence suspension.
