FORMER Post Fiji chief executive officer Anirudha Bansod has been sentenced to one year and six months in jail.

Bansod was initially charged by FICAC with one count of abuse of office and one of general dishonesty on August 22 last year.

The amended charge found that between August 1 and December 31, 2022, while CEO of Post Fiji, Mr Bansod provided false confidentiality and conflict of interest declarations for the tender of the design, development and implementation of the Post Fiji mobile application.

In his ruling, Magistrate Yogesh Prasad said Bansod provided false confidentiality and conflict of interest declarations despite knowing that the bidding company grossly breached the trust bestowed upon him.

Magistrate Prasad also ruled Bansod failed to declare his conflict of interest and that he was systematically communicating with Vaibhav Dashpande of Technobase IT Solutions, one of the bidders for the tender.

He said the company’s policy — on declaring any conflict of interest on all bidders before the tender process was opened and awarded — was clear.

Yet upon receiving a form, Bansod “went ahead and made a false declaration that he knew no one from Technobase”.

“The communication exchange between the accused and Vaibhav Dashpande, through WhatsApp messages, clearly shows how insider information of a government enterprise, in leading up to the tender processes, was leaked to Technobase IT Solutions PVT Ltd in Suva,” Magistrate Prasad said.

The court heard that eventually, the Indian company was awarded the contract to provide services for the e-wallet.

“The offence of abuse of office is designed to safeguard the integrity of government institutions from systematic corruption and abuse of powers,” the magistrate said in his ruling.

“Therefore, in the public interest and on the issue of deterrence, I have decided to not suspend your sentence.”

Bansod has 28 days to appeal his sentence.