The former director with the Ministry of Education appeared at the Suva Magistrates Court

The former director with the Ministry of Education appeared at the Suva Magistrates Court on Thursday, charged with one count of abuse of office.

Sukhendra Donish Lal is charged by the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption.

It is alleged that between February 11th and December 31st in 2019, Lal while being the director of finance with the Ministry, did arbitrary acts in abuse of the authority of his office.

Lal allegedly facilitated the encashing of a Chinese funded grant for special education via accountable advantage without following due processes, which was prejudicial to the rights of the Ministry.

Acting senior state counsel, Joseph Work informed the court that the first phase of disclosures has been served.

The Resident Magistrate granted a non-cash bail bond of $10, 000 and ordered Lal not to re-offend while on bail.

Lal was also ordered not to interfere with prosecution witnesses, not to change his residential address without informing the court and to surrender his travel documents to court.

The matter has been adjourned to February 2nd.