Tikoca has a case to answer - Magistrate Mua

Suva Magistrate Makereta Mua says Ratu Isoa Tikoca has a case to answer.

Magistrate Mua said this after FICAC wrapped up its case yesterday.

Tikoca is charged with failure to declare his liabilities contrary to section 24 of the Political Parties Registration Conduct Funding and Disclosures Decree.

It is alleged that Tikoca failed to declare the liability and the amount of the liability to the Registrar the Permanent Secretary responsible for Elections that he had incurred to the Government of Fiji during his tenure as Fiji’s High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea.

Meanwhile defense counsel Kitione Vuetaki asked the third prosecution witness Uate Biutanaseva if Tikoca’s son’s total PNG cost was 90,224 PNG kina.

Biutanaseva said that he cannot understand this because the figures given are calculated according to the school terms and the exchange rates fluctuate.

He says it can only be converted to Fijian dollars if it is given in terms of months.

Vuetaki then again told Biutanaseva that he is talking in terms of PNG kina and not Fijian dollars.

Vuetaki told the court that in 2006 Tikoca’s son attended term 2, 3 and 4 at St Joseph’s Nudgee College in Brisbane Australia and the base fee for those terms is 7,750 kina.

Biutanaseva maintained that it is difficult to convert the kina to Fijian dollars in terms of school terms and it should be given in terms of specific months.

Vuetaki then again asked him to clarify if he agrees that Tikoca’s son attended four terms in 2007.

Biutanaseva told the court that according to the sourced documents he can only relate to the payments.

He said that they are concerned about the use of money and not his attendance to school.

The defence counsel reiterated in court that Tikoca does not owe anything to the government.

The first prosecution witness Former Director Corporate Affairs for the Foreign Affairs Ministry Kelera Nukutaumaki had told the court that Tikoca had used $94,526.73 for his son’s education at St Joseph’s Nudgee College in Brisbane, Australia.

The Defense will produce their first witness today.