IT does not take long to assess the requirements in a sexual harassment case, says former Director of Legal Aid Commission and Suva lawyer Filimoni Vosarogo.
He made the comment in relation to allegations made against former Fijian Holdings Ltd Group CEO Nouzab Fareed by former employee Judy Wise.
Police said on December 14 the case file had been forwarded to the Office of the DPP.
Despite emails from this newspaper, there has been no word from the ODPP on the progress of the case.
Mr Vosarogo said with sexual harassment cases, it was relatively easy to make a determination on whether to proceed with charges or not.
“The long and short of it is, no, it doesn’t take that long,” he said.
Mr Vosarogo said it was “simple to assess these kinds of cases”.
“It’s a simple assessment of two things.
“Firstly, is there sufficient evidence to make out a case, and secondly, is it in the public interest to proceed in the prosecution.
“Look, it’s not complex to assess these requirements.”
Mr Fareed was taken in for questioning by police on December 10 after an initial complaint of sexual harassment was made against him by Ms Wise.
Ms Wise claimed Mr Fareed had sexually harassed her on a number of occasions while she was an employee of a FHL subsidiary.
Mr Fareed resigned on December 20 last year.
He said he resigned to protect the image of FHL and to tell his story to the world.
In response to the timeline, Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre co-ordinator Shamima Ali said this was “not unusual but given it is a high profile case and in the public interest, things should be expedited”.
Ms Wise also confirmed she had not heard from police.
