A former employee of the Ministry of Education, Heritage and Arts, Rahul Ravikash Kumar, was sentenced to seven (7) years in prison by the Suva Magistrates Court on 14 March 2025 after pleading guilty to fifty-eight (58) counts of corruption-related offences.
Kumar was charged by the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC) on 1 April 2021 with fifty-six (56) counts of Money Laundering, one (1) count of Unauthorized Modification of Data, and one (1) count of Obtaining a Financial Advantage.
The charges relate to the period between 4 April 2017 and 20 June 2020, while employed in the Transport Assistance Unit, Kumar unlawfully accessed the Financial Management Information System (FMIS) of the Ministry, entered unauthorized data, and obtained a financial advantage amounting to $341,981.81.
On 4 July 2023, Kumar voluntarily pleaded guilty to all charges and was subsequently convicted.
Resident Magistrate Jeremaia Savou, in delivering the sentence, emphasised the severity of the offence and ruled that the sentence must be served in full as a custodial sentence, with no provision for full or partial suspension. Kumar has been sentenced to an aggregate term of seven (7) years with a non-parole period of five (5) years.
The Court noted that the Prosecution submission that the $341,981.81 has not been recovered nor was there any restitution made by the accused.
The Court has allowed a twenty-eight (28) day period for appeal.