SUVA: The owner of the Fiji Times newspaper will appeal against a 12-month jail term imposed today on a corruption charge.
Mahendra Mohitibai Patel, owner of the Motibhai Group of companies and one of Fiji's most prominent businessmen, was found guilty by the High Court of the charge when he was head of Post Fiji.
A court found he and a colleague had ignored Post Fiji procedures when they purchased an external clock as part of a renovation.
The $F75,000 clock was bought from Prouds Fiji Ltd, a company owned by Patel.
Patel's defence lawyer, Hemendra Nagin, said he was confident the appeals against the conviction and sentence would be successful.
"I don't know why they have been targeted but when I look at the facts this is the weakest case for the prosecution I've ever seen," he said.
Diabetes sufferer
Patel, who suffers from diabetes and has large family interests in New Zealand, became owner of the Fiji Times last year.
The three assessors sitting at the trial found Patel not guilty, but Justice Daniel Goundar, overruled them and found him guilty on Tuesday.
Justice Goundar said he would not consider a suspended sentence and jailed Patel for 12 months at Korovou Prison, just outside Suva city.
Patel was convicted in his role as chairman of Fiji Post along with its managing director Tevita Peni Mau, who was jailed for nine months.
They were both found guilty of abuse of office under military decrees.
The charges were laid by the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC), set up by military strongman Voreqe Bainimarama after his 2006 coup in which he vowed to stamp out corruption.
In 2009, Bainimarama fired all the judges and purported to abolish the constitution, leaving FICAC to operate by military decree.
Justice Goundar became a judge in the new military controlled courts and he heard the case against Patel and Mau.
Patel's jailing marks a bizarre move by the military regime who, until now, have enjoyed the support of the Indo-Fijian business elite.
After Bainimarama forced media magnate Rupert Murdoch out of Fiji, Patel stepped in to purchase the Fiji Times. - Radio Australia/Indian Weekender/Pacific Media Watch
Pacific Media Watch
