The trial for five people charged in relation to an alleged scam which involved a businessman and four former workers of the then Department of National Roads involving more than $3 million will start next week.
Businessman Feroz Jan Mohammed and former civil servants Iliesa Turagacati and Navitalai Tamanitoakula are charged with Bribery, Obtaining a Financial Advantage and Abuse of Office.
Former civil servant Aisea Liwaiono has been charged with two counts of Causing a Loss and Vijay Prasad has been charged with one count of Causing a Loss.
The trial was supposed to start today however Mohammed’s lawyer Doctor Thomas Hickie told the court today that he is requesting for some further documents from the Fiji Roads Authority.
He told the court that both parties have agreed that FICAC will produce ten witnesses.
The alleged incident happened between February 27th and July 2012, where Mohammed, a director of TF Jan Bulldozing Company Limited, offered payments amounting to $93,000 to Turagacati, who was a public servant employed as an acting project accountant in the then Department of National Roads.
It is also alleged in that same period, Mohammed and his company obtained a financial advantage amounting to more than $3 million by receiving money the company was not entitled to, upon submitting false invoices and circumventing the proper procedures concerning the processing of payments with the influence of Turagacati.
According to the charges, the payments were made from the funds allocated for upgrading the Nausori Highlands road.
The third accused in this matter, Tamanitoakula, is charged with abuse of office.
He is alleged to have processed payments amounting to more than $2 million paid to TF Jan Bulldozing Company Limited without following proper procedures.
Their trial will begin next Monday before Justice Paul Madigan.
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