The three Fiji Court of Appeal judges will deliver their ruling in relation to former Prime Minister, Laisenia Qarase's appeal on conviction and sentence, this Thursday.
Qarase was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment by High Court Judge, Justice Priyantha Fernando in August last year after he was found guilty of six counts of abuse of office and three counts of discharging his duty with respect to property in which he had a private interest.
He was released from prison early last month.
Queens Counsel for Qarase, Remy Van De Wiel highlighted in the appeal hearing that the defense counsel at the time of the trial, Tupou Draunidalo was not familiar with criminal court of law.
Wiel said the trial judge and the prosecution overlooked Qarase's good character during the trial.
He said the prosecution's duty is not to get a conviction at any cost but as officers of the court, they should ensure that assistance is provided to achieve a fair trial.
He also said the trial judge has a duty to raise all possible defenses in the summing up, even where defense overlooks certain points.
FICAC's Senior Counsel, Michael Blanchflower earlier said that there were no objections to the summing up by the trial judge and to the bundle of documents provided as evidence in Qarase's Fijian Holdings Limited trial last year.
Blanchflower said the three assessors in the trial deliberated on the evidence for 2 and half hours.
He said the assessors were acutely aware that the incidents occurred in 1991 and 1992.
Blanchflower also stressed that the assessors were given first hand evidence and credible witnesses in the trial.
He questioned why the matters being raised during the appeal were not raised in the trial.
FICAC's counsel further said that the trial judge, Justice Priyantha Fernando did a thorough analysis of the counts and he summarized it very clearly for the assessors.
He said the judge directed the three assessors and told them that they are the judges of facts.
Story by: Vijay Narayan and Tokasa Rainima
