Former fisheries minister Kalaveti Ravu was cleared of criminal wrongdoing yesterday after the Suva Magistrate’s Court acquitted him and a regional fisheries manager of abuse of office charges laid in 2024.
The two were found not guilty and acquitted of their respective charges of abuse of office and aiding and abetting before Magistrate Jeremaia Savou.
Mr Ravu was accused of interfering in the lawful process of a ministerial investigation into the suspected illegal trade of a banned species of beche-de-mer between July and August 2023, while Tekata Toaisi faced a charge of aiding the former minister.
They were initially acquitted after a defence application for a no-case-to-answer on February 28, 2025.
However, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, who took carriage of the case from FICAC, successfully appealed the case with the judge ordering that both men have a case-to-answer.
In his ruling, Mr Savou said the elements of Mr Ravu’s offence could not be proved beyond a reasonable doubt because the minister was not a civil servant.
He said the prosecution had also not proved Mr Toaisi’s charge beyond a reasonable doubt.
The ODPP has 28 days to appeal.
