Suva High Court Judge, Justice Daniel Goundar, has ruled that former Minister for Fisheries, Kalaveti Ravu and former Fisheries Regional Manager North, Tekata Toaisi, have a case to answer.
Ravu is charged with one count of abuse of office while Toaisi faces a charge of abetting the offence.
Justice Goundar says that instead of holding a voir dire to rule on admissibility, Magistrate Jeremiah Savou had deferred the decision until the close of the prosecution’s case.
He says that, as far as the no case to answer ruling was concerned, the Magistrate correctly set out the test but misapplied it.
Justice Goundar says the appeal succeeds on all three grounds.
The case has been remitted to Magistrate Savou to proceed with the defence case without delay, after advising the respondents of their options.
The matter has been listed for mention before Magistrate Savou at the Nasinu Magistrates Court on September 19th.
It is alleged that between July 25th and August 31st, 2023, Ravu interfered in a Ministry of Forestry investigation into the illegal trade of banned species of beche-de-mer.
Both were acquitted in March this year by the Magistrates Court.
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