Former Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase’s appeal on conviction and sentence has been dismissed by the Court of Appeal.
Qarase was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment by High Court Judge, Justice Priyantha Fernando in August last year after he was found guilty of six counts of abuse of office and three counts of discharging his duty with respect to property in which he had a private interest.
He was released from prison early last month.
According to Appeals Court Judge Justice Suresh Chandra, there were 33 grounds of appeal.
One of main grounds of appeal taken up on behalf of Qarase during the trial was that he was not employed in the public service.
Justice Chandra said that none of the grounds raised on behalf of Qarase had any material substance and that the grounds of appeal adduced on behalf of him fail and dismissed the appeal.
Queens Counsel for Qarase, Remy van de Wiel had argued in the appeal hearing that the defense counsel at the time of the trial, Tupou Draunidalo was not familiar with criminal court of law.
Wiel said the trial judge and the prosecution overlooked Qarase’s good character during the trial.
However FICAC’s Senior Counsel Michael Blanchflower earlier said that there were no objections to the summing up by the trial judge and to the bundle of documents provided as evidence in Qarase’s Fijian Holdings Limited trial last year.
Blanchflower said the three assessors in the trial deliberated on the evidence for 2 and a half hours.
He said the assessors were acutely aware that the incidents occurred in 1991 and 1992.
Story by: Vijay Narayan & Praneeta Prakash
