The State has today asked the Suva High Court to dismiss objections raised by defence counsel over the admissibility of procurement reports in the trial involving former senior government officials.

In this matter, former Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, former Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, and former Health Minister Neil Sharma face charges of abuse of office, breach of trust by a public officer, and obstructing the course of justice.

The charges relate to allegations that statutory requirements under the 2010 Procurement Regulations were not followed in the awarding of medical equipment tenders in 2011.

Dr Sharma faces two counts of abuse of office and two counts of breach of trust by a public officer. Bainimarama is charged with one count of abuse of office, while Sayed-Khaiyum faces one count of abuse of office and one count of obstructing the course of justice.

In his oral submissions today, Dr Sharma’s defence lawyer, Wylie Clarke, told the court that the State cannot rely on Tender Evaluation Committee documents to prove its case because they amount to hearsay.

He argued that the accused have a constitutional right to a fair trial and to challenge inadmissible evidence. Clarke said the TEC documents and minutes are summaries of information taken from individual tender bids and are not supported by the original source material.

Counsel for Bainimarama and Sayed-Khaiyum, Devanesh Sharma, also submitted that none of the State’s witnesses can confirm the truth of what the bidders actually submitted, despite the charges alleging that the accused acted in a manner prejudicial to other bidders.

In response, the State said the objection is premature and that it intends to call the authors of the documents to testify.

State lawyer Laisani Tabuakuro argued that the evaluation minutes are official records created under the Procurement Regulations and should be admitted. She maintained that the documents were prepared as part of a statutory procurement framework and that witnesses involved in preparing them will give evidence.

Tabuakuro urged the court to reject the defence objection and allow the TEC documents to be admitted. She also said the defence has had access to the evidence for almost two years and only raised the objection on the morning of the trial.

However, Clarke objected to that claim, telling the court that the defence only became aware of the specific witnesses last Monday.

Justice Usaia Ratuvili will deliver his ruling at 11am this Friday.

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