A former FICAC Assistant Complaints Officer was sentenced to 4 years 8 months imprisonment in the Lautoka Magistrate’s Court today after he was found guilty of corruption related offences.
Suliasi Sukanaivalu will also have to pay a fine of $1,000.
He was charged by FICAC in 2013 with one count each of Soliciting an Advantage, Obtaining a Financial Advantage and False Statement on Oath.
While delivering the sentence, Magistrate Bandula Gunaratne says that as a public officer, Sukanaivalu was entrusted with honesty and loyalty and that his actions were dishonest to his employers and breached the trust of the public.
Magistrate Gunaratne says Sukanaivalu was a member of an independent institution that eradicated corruption, and should have been extra cautious than an ordinary government officer.
Sukanaivalu had asked for $500 in 2012 from an individual seeking his assistance as a public officer to recover a debt.
It was revealed in court that after recovering that debt he obtained $400 and then made a false statement to the
Small Claims Tribunal Western Division that he had served a Notice of Hearing to the individual he had collected the debt from.
The matter has been adjourned to 30th August 2019 to check on the payment of the fine as failure to do so will see the accused spend an extra 100 days in prison.
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