Romika Sewak [left] and Mohammed Saneem

The Financial Controller at the Fijian Elections Office says that she wasn’t aware who kept the original deed of variation for the Supervisor of Elections’ term of Service.

Romika Sewak, while being cross-examined by the defense in the Suva High Court today, stated that for her it was very unusual to ever process back pay for any person for a period of one and a half years.

She informed the court that on the 1st of July, it was her first time dealing with the Deed of Variation for Saneem’s pay.

Defense questioned whether she sought a legal opinion from the then Manager of Legal, Ana Mataiciwa, if Sewak found the situation unusual, to which she replied that she didn’t.

Defense Lawyer Devanesh Sharma put to Sewak that, in 2022, an independent committee tasked with reviewing the Supervisor of Elections’ pay suggested a pay scale of $ 320,000 to $ 370,000, and Saneem’s pay was increased from $ 221,000 to $ 350,000.

Sewak confirmed that Saneem was back paid over $168,000 for the period 15th January to 31st December for his acting allowance.

The FEO financial controller stated in court that she had informed Saneem of the taxes, and he agreed to it, and the same was applied when she was processing the transactions for Saneem.

When asked by Chief Justice Salesi Temo on how she interpreted it, Sewak stated that according to her, Saneem’s salary of $315 000 after the 10 percent deduction during the pandemic period, while factoring in the back pay and ordinary taxes, which were deducted from Saneem’s Salary, the difference was then reimbursed to him after the second Deed of Variation.

Defense then questioned her whether Saneem had anything to do with the amount of taxes being deducted or whether the former Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum had ordered her to do so, to which she denied.

Sewak also denied having any conversation with Saneem on the reason why he was pushing for the payment was because they were approaching a new financial year, as the FEO’s financial year concludes on 21st July.

The trial has been adjourned to next Monday, and bail has been extended for the duo.

In this matter, Sayed-Khaiyum faces charges of abuse of office, while Saneem is charged with receiving a corrupt benefit.

It is alleged that Sayed-Khaiyum, while Acting Prime Minister, signed a Deed of Variation and Addendum approving payment of Saneem’s taxes without proper authorization, giving Saneem a benefit during his tenure as Supervisor of Elections.

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