FICAC allowed to amend charges on last day of Kaba's trial

FICAC has been allowed to amend the date of the alleged offence and replace the word 'tender' with 'Expression of Interest' in the charge against former Director of Telecom Fiji Limited, Sanjay Kaba.

On the final day of the trial, FICAC lawyer Nimisha Shankar informed Magistrate Charles Ratakele that they wish to make amendments, as it is an agreed fact that Kaba had resigned on the 7th of December 2018.

Defence lawyers Devanesh Sharma, Wasu Pillay and Gul Fatima initially objected to the amendments but later accepted them.

During the trial, General Manager Corporate Services for TFL, Samuel Vadei agreed that Kaba’s company, Houng Lee Kaba Jacob Limited, was only paid for the work it had completed.

Vadei also clarified that the Expression of Interest was only for the new TFL office building and not for the data centre.

He says Kaba did not attend three of the four board meetings in 2017 and none in 2018.

Vadei adds that due to this Kaba had no involvement or any form of interference.

Meanwhile, former Project Manager for Telecom Fiji Limited, Isoa Tawaketolu says he had no knowledge of how Kaba’s company was awarded the tender.

He says five of the nine companies were not shortlisted because they did not have experience in constructing multi-storey buildings.

It was earlier highlighted that during a full board meeting, HLK Jacob Pte Ltd was awarded the tender.

Tawaketolu adds that due to a lack of funds to finance the project, his tenure was terminated before the completion of his two-year contract.

Throughout the trial, FICAC did not re-examine any of the 13 witnesses.

The matter will be called today.

Kaba is charged with one count of obtaining a financial advantage.

According to the amended particulars, it is alleged that Kaba between the 27th of January 2017 and the 20th of January 2019 whilst being a board member of Telecom Fiji Limited and Amalgamated Telecom Holdings Limited, engaged in conduct namely using information and influence obtained by virtue of his position to procure a submission of tender through the company Houng Lee Kaba Jacob Limited a company in which he was a director and shareholder, for Project Management Service in relation to TFL for TFL's new office and data centre project, and as a result obtained a financial advantage amounting to $766,327.22 between June 2022 and July 2023, knowing that HLK Jacob was not eligible to receive the financial advantage.