The Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption. [File Photo]

Three people have been sentenced by the Anti-Corruption Division of the Suva Magistrates Court.

Sereima Rokovada a former Exemption Officer at the Department of Immigration was sentenced to three years imprisonment.

She was charged by the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption with one count each of bribery and using a forged document in 2018.

Ling Gao, a former businesswoman who was also sentenced to three years imprisonment, was convicted of one count of bribery and one count of possession of forged documents.

Pravir Rattan, a businessman was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment after being convicted of one count of bribery.

It was found that in 2018, Gao and Rattan had offered $100 to Rokovada, who was officially handling the extension of Gao’s work permit at the Immigration Department at the time.

The Court heard Rokovada had accepted the money.

The Court also found that Gao had possessed an altered work permit which was used by Rokovada, with the intention of dishonestly inducing an Immigration Officer to accept it as genuine.

Resident Magistrate Jeremaia Savou while sentencing the three states as a means of general deterrence, a suspension was not proper in the circumstances even though the accused were first-time offenders.