Chief Justice Salesi Temo will now deliver his judgement in the case of former Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum and former Supervisor of Elections, Mohammed Saneem on the 14th of May.
Chief Justice Temo had said on the 2nd of last month that he needed more time to prepare the judgement, and this morning he again said that he needs more time.
Sayed-Khaiyum is charged with one count of abuse of office while Saneem is charged with one count of receiving a corrupt benefit.
The maximum penalty for these charges is 10 years imprisonment.
It is alleged that between the 30th of June, 2022 and the 12th of July, 2022 in Suva, whilst being employed in the civil service as the Acting Prime Minister of Fiji, Sayed-Khaiyum signed a Deed of Variation and Addendum between the Government of Fiji and the Supervisor of Elections, Mohammed Saneem, agreeing to pay the taxes of Mohammed Saneem without the proper approval of the Constitutional Offices Commission and the President of Fiji, in abuse of the authority of his office, which was an arbitrary act prejudicial to the rights of the Government of Fiji.
It is alleged that between the 1st of June and the 31st of July 2022, while being employed as the Supervisor of Elections, Saneem without lawful authority and reasonable excuse, asked for, and obtained a benefit for himself, that is, the approval and payment of deductible tax relief of more than $50,000 on his back pay from a senior Government official.
