Court

Former PWD employee sentenced for conspiracy

August 14, 2019 4:47 pm

A former employee of the former Public Works Department was sentenced to 15 months in prison for defrauding her employer’s in the Suva Magistrates Court today.

Laisa Halafi was charged by the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption with one count each of Conspiracy to Commit a Felony and Abuse of Office.

She pleaded guilty to the charges and admitted to facilitating false payments while serving as a Clerical Officer which resulted in PWD losing $10,268.74 between August and December 2009.

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Resident Magistrate Kashyapa Wickramasekara said that since there have been no attempts at restitution, there are no special circumstances to suspend the sentence.

The resident magistrate emphasized that the crimes were committed whilst she held a position of trust in respect of financial matters and her actions blatantly breached it.

She is currently serving a sentence of 10 years for similar offences against her former employees and will serve this 15-month sentence concurrently.