Former director of public prosecutions Christopher Pryde is no longer facing criminal proceedings after the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC) discontinued the case, saying it had been unable to serve him with the relevant court documents.
However, a lawyer from the Office of the Attorney-General told Magistrate Yogesh Prasad yesterday that FICAC had failed to amend an extradition application sent to the A-G’s office for clearance, despite reminders.
Senior FICAC prosecutor Lani More told Magistrate Prasad that despite FICAC’s attempts to serve documents on Mr Pryde in New Zealand, he had successfully avoided service.
Ms More filed a nolle prosequi, allowing the prosecution to discontinue the current proceedings while retaining the option to refile the same charges in the future if necessary.
However, Janet Raman, a lawyer from the A-G’s office, told the court that her office had received an earlier application from FICAC for extradition proceedings but the application did not meet the legal requirements needed to proceed.
Ms Raman said the A-G thought it was prudent to explain to the court what had actually happened with the extradition request because there was “a lot of misinformation” that was being spread. She said that despite several follow-ups with FICAC for amendments to the application, no amended application was received. As a result, the extradition process never progressed to the stage where the OAG could make a formal request to New Zealand, where Mr Pryde lives, meaning no extradition papers were served and no extradition request was ever sent.
Mr Pryde had been charged with two counts of abuse of office, two counts of causing a loss, and one count of obtaining a financial advantage.
