A public officer is a person who is either paid by Government or deals with public funds and this includes Town municipalities.

Those are the words of the fifth prosecution witness, Alan Prasad when questioned by FICAC lawyer Laisa Lagilevu, as to why an audit was carried out against former Nasinu Mayor, Rajeshwar Kumar and former Town clerk, Jaswant Kumar who are facing charges of abuse of office and embezzlement.

Prasad, who was heading a team that carried out an Audit on the Town Council, said that under the Manual from the Auditor General’s Office and the Local Government Act, municipalities have to be audited.

However, Defence lawyer for the two accused, Rajendra Chaudhry asked Prasad to show evidence detailing a directive that had been issued to the Nasinu Town Council, informing them to follow the Manual to ensure proper accounting procedures were followed, to which Prasad revealed that he had to refer to his office as he was not aware of any such directive.

Chaudhry then asked whether or not there was a binding procedure in place and whether any Council was bound to a practice when they had not adopted it, Prasad said that based on past experience, the Authority in power could issue a directive to Council or businesses to adhere to a certain practice if not, they face suspension.

It is alleged that Rajeshwar Kumar and Jaswant Kumar had colluded to raise a cheque amounting to $2,344 for payment to Post Fiji Limited however the cheque was cashed at the Westpac Bank without the knowledge of Post Fiji Limited.

It is understood that staff from the Nasinu Town Council would take stationery from Post Fiji on a loan basis and cheques would be issued later to Post Fiji after deductions were made from the staff account by the Council.

Meanwhile, Judge Justice Daniel Goundar asked Prasad as to why Jaswant Kumar was only mentioned in the Audit report when both are facing the same charges, Prasad said that though it was Jaswant Kumar who was incharge of all the paperwork for the Cheque to be raised, Rajeshwar Kumar co-signed the cheque and thus only Jaswant's name had been written in the Audit report.

The case continues this morning with FICAC calling their sixth witness who is the Auditor for Post Fiji.