Tokalau confirms she was not aware of any email sent by the Director of Lands to the Director of Freesoul

The first state witness in the Freesoul Real Estate Development (Fiji) PTE Ltd trial has confirmed in court today that she was not aware of an email sent by the Director of Lands to the Director of Freesoul approving the company to offload their material on the development site.

Kelera Tokalau confirmed this during cross examination by defence lawyer, David Toganivalu.

When questioned if the offloading of material was development activity, Tokalau says it was not.

Magistrate Seini Puamau also told the defence and state lawyers that they should start to determine if sections 21 and 43 of the Environmental Act are offences of strict liability and if the prohibition notices issued pursuant to section 21 applies to facilities only, and if its the case, were the sites in question a facility and if so, how.

The trial continues before Suva Magistrate, Seini Puamau.

The charges against Freesoul relate to the failure to comply with a Prohibition Notice issued by the Director of Environment in June 2018 and carrying out of resort development activity in Malolo without an approved Environmental Impact Assessment Report.

Under the Environment Management Act 2005, if convicted, the company and its directors face fines of up to $750,000 or a term of imprisonment of up to 10 years, or both.