The Suva Magistrates Court has found former Secretary of the Independent Legal Services Commission (ILSC), Ifrana Nisha, guilty of corruption-related charges.
Nisha was charged with seven counts of falsification of documents and two counts of obtaining a financial advantage.
She was acquitted on one count of obtaining a financial advantage.
The court heard that between July 2012 and November 2014, Nisha falsified cheques by forging the signatures of former Solicitor-General Sharvada Sharma and lawyer Ana Tuiketei.
She listed herself and ILSC Commissioner Paul Madigan as payees to obtain financial gain.
In one instance, Nisha falsified a cheque for $3,450, naming Tuiketei as the payee, and instructed an ILSC receptionist, Vandana Raj, to cash the cheque and return the proceeds to her.
Suva Magistrate Shageeth Somaratne noted that Sharma, Tuiketei and Madigan testified for the prosecution, denying any involvement in or benefit from the cheques.
Bank records confirmed the withdrawals from the ILSC account, while Raj testified that she cashed the cheques on Nisha’s instructions and returned the proceeds to her.
The court considered circumstantial evidence, including witness identification of the second signature on the cheques as Nisha’s, her control over the cheque books, and testimony that she handed the cheques to Raj fully completed for encashment.
Magistrate Somaratne found that only Nisha had access to the cheque books, that she had authority to raise the cheques, and that the funds were returned to her, with no benefit received by Madigan or Tuiketei.
Nisha was convicted on the first nine counts and acquitted on the tenth count.
She has 28 days to appeal.
The case has been adjourned to February 13.
