The High Court in Suva has dismissed an application by former civil servant Rahul Ravikash Kumar for an enlargement of time to appeal his sentence.
Kumar, a former employee of the Ministry of Education, Heritage, and Arts, was jailed for seven years on March 14, 2025.
This followed his conviction on 56 counts of money laundering, one count each of unauthorised modification of data and obtaining a financial advantage.
The court found that between April 2017 and June 2020, he unlawfully accessed the ministry’s financial management system to modify data and obtain $341,981.81.
Justice Pita Bulamainaivalu delivered the ruling on Monday last week, noting that Kumar filed his application on December 16, 2025, approximately eight months outside the statutory 28-day filing window, which had lapsed around April 11, 2025.
Kumar blamed the delay on his previous lawyer’s advice not to appeal, concurrent civil forfeiture proceedings, and a delay in receiving his sentencing documentation.
He raised two grounds of appeal, claiming the sentencing magistrate erred by allowing irrelevant matters to influence the term, ignoring mitigating factors, and acting on the false premise that no funds had been recovered despite prior knowledge of the forfeiture actions.
FICAC lawyer Nimisha Shankar argued that these reasons did not constitute good cause.
After reviewing the original sentence, Justice Bulamainaivalu found the proposed grounds lacked merit and held no real prospect of success.
Kumar has 30 days to appeal the decision to the Fiji Court of Appeal.
