CHIEF Justice Salesi Temo says there is nothing wrong with an employee asking for more money, as it is only a natural occurrence.
Justice Temo made this remark after Epeli Naidrodro, the Human Resource Coordinator for the Fijian Elections Office (FEO), indicated that while requesting a benefit is permissible, seeking reimbursement for taxes from the Government is something he has never come across in his years working for the department.
Justice Temo yesterday said in the case before the court, there was an agreement between the Government and the former supervisor of elections, Mohammed Saneem.
Additionally, Justice Temo expressed surprise upon discovering from the FEO’s Human Resources manager, Afrina Hussain, that critical letters and contracts were absent from Mr Saneem’s personal file.
The court heard Mr Saneem’s personal file did not have the first Deed of Variation (DoV), the letter from the Constitutional Offices Commission (COC) to the official secretary of the President from 2014, the President’s letter to Mr Saneem, the Fiji Electoral Commission’s letter to the President, and the letter from the Independent Committee to the COC secretary.
The only document in his personal file was his contract of service dated February 16, 2021, and his second DoV signed by then-acting prime minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum with an additional clause for a tax reimbursement of $55,000, which the State alleges was done without the proper approval of the COC and the President.
Defence lawyer Devanesh Sharma argued that when Mr Saneem was appointed on January 15, 2021, his letter from the President stated that the amendments and execution of the contract would be carried out between the PM on behalf of the Government and Mr Saneem.
Ms Hussain contended that the tax reimbursement was a valid payment due to the additional clause outlined in the second DoV, which Mr Sharma claims supersedes the earlier DoV dated June 30, 2022.
She concurred with the defence’s assertion that the Government could have pursued legal action to eliminate the clause if it considered it unlawful, yet no such action was taken. Mr Sharma maintained that the FEO misapplied the additional clause, which stipulates that the, Government, not the FEO, is to cover any extra tax.
The former official secretary for the Office of the President, Kiti Temo, will be cross-examined today.
