As the former Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry awaits his sentencing later today, he and his lawyer have asked the court to dismiss his charges without recording a conviction as Chaudhry wants to contest the elections.
Chaudhry’s lawyer, Matthew Hutchings told High Court Judge Justice Paul Madigan in his sentencing submission that Chaudhry is the leader of the Fiji Labour Party and elections are to be held in which the party will field candidates.
Hutchings said that his client intends to stand for the elections and a conviction will mean that Chaudhry will not be able to stand as a candidate.
Hutchings also presented a local doctor’s medical report stating that Chaudhry is suffering from diabetes, heart diseases and cardiac conditions.
The High Court Judge then asked Hutchings on Chaudhry’s means to pay a fine and whether his ability to pay a fine will be a problem.
Justice Madigan also asked Hutchings to ask his client about the value of his house and other assets.
Chaudhry through his lawyer informed the court that the value of his house is not more than $300,000 and the only other property is his vehicle.
Chaudhry has been found guilty of three counts of breach of the Exchange Control Act.
The penalty for such charges range from two years imprisonment to fines amounting to three times of the value of the original amount in the offence.
The first count against Chaudhry is in relation to failure to surrender foreign currency, where Mahendra Chaudhry between November 2000 and July 2010 retained the sum of 1.5 million Australian dollars for his own benefit without the consent of the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji.
The second count is in relation to dealing in foreign currency without permission.
The third count relates to Chaudhry having the right to receive a sum of $1.5 million Australian dollars from the financial institutions in Australia and New Zealand, caused the delay of payment of the sum, in whole or in part, to himself by authorizing the continual investment of the sum together with interest acquired back into financial institutions without the permission of the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji.
Chaudhry will be sentenced at 2.30pm today.
Story by: Vijay Narayan and Praneeta Prakash
