The Suva’s Magistrates Court will hear the mitigation and oral submission for both the State and the Defence team for former Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho on Thursday.
This after the High Court found both men guilty of abuse of office.
The matter was called before Resident Magistrate Seini Puamau, today.
In court, Magistrate Puamau acknowledged the conviction entered by the High Court and asked the State and the Defence to file written sentencing and mitigation submissions on Wednesday and oral submissions in court on Thursday.
When the case was called in the Suva Magistrates Court this morning, Defence Counsel and senior lawyer Devanesh Sharma said that he had filed an application for a stay on the guilty judgment of the High Court in the Fiji Court of Appeal, and also asked if there can be a stay on the sentencing process.
Puamau said that a stay on the sentencing process cannot be ruled upon by the Magistrates Court after the Higher Court had ruled on the matter.
In a Courtroom filled, Puamau stated she acknowledges the findings of the High Court that overturned her decision on the matter.
In her submission, Assistant DPP Nancy Tikoisuva told the court that they are bound by the decision of the High Court and that of Acting Chief Justice Salesi Temo.
In her retort, Magistrate Puamau said that both Bainimarama and Qiliho have been convicted and that it cannot be done for a second time.
In Court, the prosecution did not ask to remand both Bainimarama and Qiliho, pending the sentencing hearing, scheduled for next Thursday.
Both the former Prime Minister and suspended Commissioner of Police are scheduled for Thursday from 11 am to 1 pm.
Meanwhile, Bainimarama has been found guilty of one count of attempt to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho has been found guilty of one count of abuse of office.
According to the charges, Bainimarama sometime in July 2020 as the Prime Minister directed the Police Commissioner to stop the investigation into a police complaint, in the abuse of the authority of his office, which was an arbitrary act prejudicial to the rights of the University of the South Pacific which is the complainant.
For Qiliho’s charges, the charges say that Qiliho on the 15th of July, 2020 as the Police Commissioner directed the Director of the Criminal Investigations Department, Serupepeli Neiko, and Inspector Reshmi Dass to stop investigations into the police complaint by the USP, in the abuse of the authority of his office, which was an arbitrary act prejudicial to the rights of USP.
Acting Chief Justice Salesi Temo ruled last week that Bainimarama and Qiliho have to be sentenced by Magistrate Seini Puamau on the 28th of March.
