Former Secretary-General to Parliament Viniana Namosimalua today told that court that no authorization of any payment voucher to Members of Parliament are processed without her signature or her knowledge.
Namosimalua is the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption first witness to take the stand in the trial of former Social Democratic Liberal Party MP Simione Rasova.
Defence Counsel Barbara Malimali pressed to the former SG as to why the GP8 form for travel and accommodation expenditure for the former SODELPA MP was not authorized by her in the form of a signature.
In response, Namosimalua told the court that she was not aware why Rasova’s form was not signed by her and could not recollect why the payment voucher was processed without her knowledge.
Namosimalua said in the case that she was out of the country; she would approve the payment of the voucher via email that was sent to her by her Secretary.
She said she couldn’t recollect whether she delegated this to someone else or whether the Deputy SG had signed for them when she was in an Acting SG role.
The former SG confirmed that the payment voucher was signed off by the Head of Finance for Parliament, Miriama Vereivalu – the copy of the payment voucher was highlighted in Court.
The payment voucher was for Rasova’s accommodation and travel expenses to attend a SODELPA Caucus Meeting in Parliament in August 2019.
When pressed by Malimali whether this went against the processes and procedures of the organisation, Namosimalua said Yes.
Rasova is charged with one count of providing false information to a public servant, allegedly lying about his residence, and obtaining a financial gain.
He is alleged to have falsely stated that his permanent place of residence was in Nasenivolau, Nabouwalu village, Ono, Kadavu, and obtained $21,350 in parliamentary allowances between July 2019 and April 2020.
The matter has been stood down to 3:15 pm.
