FORMER prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama does not deserve another custodial sentence, says his lawyer Devanesh Sharma.
Mr Sharma yesterday pleaded for the High Court in Suva to sentence his client instead to either community service, a fine, or a suspended term.
Bainimarama was convicted on October 2 of making an unwarranted demand of then acting Police Commissioner Rusiate Tudravu between May and August of 2021.
Mr Sharma asked the court for a three-year suspended sentence, saying the 71-year-old former politician posed no threat to the community as he was retired and living on his pension.
He said Bainimarama’s previous conviction was scheduled to be heard by the full bench of the Court of Appeal, and that he was released for good behaviour, completed his sentence by doing community work and was now fully rehabilitated.
The State has, however, opposed this with Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Laisani Tabuakuro seeking a custodial sentence.
She argued that Bainimarama used his position to make an unwarranted demand to Mr Tudravu, with menace, fully aware he had no authority to do so. As a result, she said, his level of culpability was high.
She cited a comment by former puisne judges in sentencing public officials: “The higher the position, the higher the sentence.”
She further submitted that Bainimarama
“could not be entitled to good character” because he undermined the institution.
The former prime minister was found guilty earlier this month by Justice Thushara Rajasinghe, while his co-accused former police commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho was acquitted of a charge of abuse of office.
The case involved the firing of two police officers who circulated images of the former PM’s brother on a police Viber chat group.
The case marks the first time an individual in Fiji has been prosecuted under the offence “unwarranted demand to a public official”.
Bainimarama will be sentenced on Wednesday next week.
Voreqe Bainimarama makes his way out from the High Court in Suva yesterday. Picture : ANDREW NAIDU.
