The defense counsel of former Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase in the Fijian Holdings Limited trial will make their closing submission in the High Court tomorrow as they have finished off their case.

After more than three hours of questioning of the last witness Joe Mar via skype from England today, defense lawyer Tupou Draunidalo said they have decided not to call Qarase’s son, Laisenia Qarase Junior, as a witness and they will wrap up their case tomorrow.

Upon questioning by Draunidalo, Mar said that he cannot recall Qarase verbally declaring his interest in FHL board meetings but he repeatedly said this does not mean that it did not happen.
 
Mar, who was a board director of FHL during the time of the alleged offences, also said that the FHL board minutes at the time only had board resolutions and all the discussions were not minuted.

He said it would be wrong to say that all the discussions were recorded in the minutes.

Mar confirmed to Draunidalo that his family company Nabuabua Holdings Limited also purchased 100,000 Class A FHL shares.

He said they raised $20,000 and took a loan of $80,000 from the Fiji Development Bank.

Mar said he verbally declared his interest in the board meeting but confirmed after seeing the minutes today that it was not recorded.

He said the late former FHL chairman Lyle Cupit was a no nonsense type of person, a strong and bulldozing leader.

Mar said he had a few clashes with Cupit in the meetings because he was not allowing too much participation.

But he said in fairness to Cupit, he tried to get consensus before a vote was taken.

He said Cupit was also the main driver of the proposal to open up the purchase of Class A shares to indigenous Fijian owned companies and individuals as there was a lack of interest to purchase shares by the Provincial and Tikina councils.

Mar said FHL was not being run on a ‘vakavanua’ system.

He also revealed that he had asked the FHL board if the directors can purchase shares to also show people that the board has confidence in the company.

He said the chairman and CEO said the directors could purchase shares.

Mar said he cannot recall Qarase declaring his interest when the applications for shares from Cicia Plantation Co-op Society, Mavana Investments and Q-Ten Investments were discussed however he said that does not mean that Qarase did not do that.

He went on to say that there were board papers submitted which contained the names of the shareholders and directors of the companies applying for shares.

Mar said Qarase’s involvement in Mavana Investments would not surprise him as Qarase is from Mavana village.

Upon questioning by Draunidalo, Mar said he decided to give evidence in the case because he has a good professional relationship with Qarase and he believes that he has got very high integrity.  

FICAC’s senior counsel Michael Blanchflower then asked Mar to look at FHL’s Articles of Association which states that it shall be the duty of a director to declare the nature of interest with any company and it shall be the duty of a secretary to record in the minutes any such declaration.

Mar confirmed that this should be followed.

Mar also agreed that the minutes of the board meetings were circulated before the next meeting and directors had the opportunity to correct any omission of a declaration.

Blanchflower then highlighted minutes of a FHL board meeting in 1991 where FHL CEO Sitiveni Weleilakeba declared his interest in Stiks Investments Limited while applying for Class A shares however in the same meeting, the minutes do not show that Joe Mar declared his interest for his family company Nabuabua Holdings.

Blanchflower asked Mar why it did not concern him then that his declaration should also be recorded.

Mar said honestly, he cannot say why he did not raise the issue.    

Qarase is charged with six counts of abuse of office and three counts of discharge of duty with respect to property in which he has a private interest.

It is alleged that Qarase applied, and then facilitated and allowed the purchase of Class A FHL shares for certain companies when he was director of FHL, financial advisor of the Fijian Affairs Board and advisor to the Great Council of Chiefs.

Stay with us for coverage on Qarase’s trial.


Story by: Vijay Narayan and William Wakavakatoga