Former Prime Minister and Fiji Labour Party leader, Mahendra Chaudhry has chosen to remain silent in his court trial.

This was revealed before High Court Judge, Justice Paul Madigan in the last hour.

Justice Madigan asked Chaudhry to stand up after the closing submission by prosecution Queens Counsel Clive Grossman.

The judge then asked Chaudhry on whether he intends to give evidence, remain silent or call any witnesses.

Chaudhry's lawyer, QC Peter Bodor then informed the judge that Chaudhry has decided to remain silent and will not call any witnesses.

While addressing the four assessors in the trial, Justice Madigan said this is an unusual case where the defence is not calling any witnesses.

The presiding judge informed the court that the closing address will be done this afternoon and he will sum up the case tomorrow morning.

The assessors will then retire behind closed doors.

While closing the prosecution case earlier today, QC Grossman said that Chaudhry has 1.5 million Australian dollars in overseas bank accounts and kept it for his own use and benefit.

The prosecution said that it has proven every element of the charge by way of agreed facts and their witness, Subrina Hanif.
 
Grossman said the offence has been committed and they have proved it.

This morning, Justice Madigan ruled that Chaudhry has a case to answer.

Chaudhry's lawyer, Queens Counsel Peter Bodor had made a no case to answer application yesterday after the prosecution called in the Reserve Bank of Fiji Board Secretary Subrina Hanif as the only witness.

Hanif said in court that Mahendra Chaudhry had not written to the Reserve Bank of Fiji to seek an approval to open a bank account overseas.

Prosecution QC Clive Grossman asked Hanif to explain what a Fiji resident should do if they want to open an overseas bank account. Hanif said that they need to write to RBF and seek an approval.

Chaudhry is facing three counts of breaching the Exchange Control Act.

The first count against Chaudhry is in relation to failure to surrender foreign currency, where it is alleged that Mahendra Chaudhry between November 2000 and July 2010 retained the sum of 1.5 million Australian dollars for his own benefit without the consent of the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji.

The second count is in relation to dealing in foreign currency without permission.
 
The third count relates to Chaudhry having the right to receive a sum of $1.5 million Australian dollars from the financial institutions in Australia and New Zealand, caused the delay of payment of the sum, in whole or in part, to himself by authorizing the continual investment of the sum together with interest acquired back into financial institutions without the permission of the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji.

The different accounts that were used to deposit the money or to re-invest the funds were presented in the evidence in court.

This included Chaudhry's accounts in Commonwealth Bank Australia, Commonwealth Managed Investments Limited Australia, ANZ New Zealand, the Perpetual Investment Management Limited Australia and Colonial First State Investments Limited Australia.

The court heard that Chaudhry received sums totaling over $1.5 million Australian dollars in the form of donations from people in India to assist Chaudhry and his family to leave Fiji following the political upheaval here in May 2000 and to establish residence in Australia.

Story by: Vijay Narayan and Praneeta Prakash