Ruling on Radrodro's no case to answer application this afternoon

Suva Magistrate Waleen George will rule on former Transport Ministry spokesperson Sainiana Radrodro's no case to answer application this afternoon.

Radrodro is charged with 11 counts of obtaining a financial advantage by deception.

It is alleged that between May 2010 and June 2011, Sainiana Radrodro obtained a financial advantage by falsely stating that the then Minister for Works, Transport and Public Utilities, Timoci Natuva had requested $9,560 on more than 11 separate occasions.

During the trial, Radrodro's lawyer, Akuila Naco had presented a document in court which was a text message between Natuva and Radrodro.

The court was told that this text was sent on December 5th 2012 from Natuva to Radrodro informing her that he will assist her.

The court was informed that this is on the same day before he gave his statement to FICAC.

Natuva also informed the court that he would sometimes verbally instruct Radrodro to source funds for the Ministry=s various social events such as farewells, awards nights and Christmas parties which were coordinated by a special committee.

The defence lawyer then asked Natuva about his involvement with the Naitasiri rugby team and if he had assigned Radrodro to source funds for the Naitasiri Rugby Awards Night.

Natuva says Radrodro sometimes came up with funds which was sponsored by Naboutini Transport.

Naco then questioned Natuva if he had instructed her to source funds for a church project in Waidalice.

Natuva said the money was handed to him by Radrodro in cash and there was no accounting of this.

The court also heard that in an e‑mail sent to Natuva which was copied to the Prime Minister, Radrodro said that she used to secure sponsorship money from sponsors and companies and she ended up using the money to pay her increasing debts.

In the e‑mail, Radrodro said that she has never done this before in her previous employment and this time she did not want to embarrass herself in front of her bosses and employees.

The court also heard that in the e‑mail sent to the Prime Minister, Sainiana Radrodro said that she committed grave mistakes and she needs help and she promised to pay back the money in which the alleged amount of $9,260 was involved.

Natuva also told the court that all the transactions for receiving donations had to go through the Department of Finance within the Ministry and official receipts were issued upon receiving the donations in 2010 to 2011.

The ruling on the no case to answer application will be delivered at 2.30pm today.