The pretrial conference of former Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry is expected to start before Justice Paul Madigan today.

Chaudhry is charged with three counts of breach of the Exchange Control Act and he has pleaded not guilty.

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

The second count is in relation to dealing in foreign currency where it is also alleged that Chaudhry lent AUD$1.5 million to persons without the permission of the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji.

The third count relates to failure to collect debts where it is alleged that Chaudhry having the right to receive a sum of AUD$1.5 million 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 reinvestment of the sum together with interest acquired back into the financial institutions without the permission of the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji.


Story by: Ronal Deo