Court Throws Out Case Against Sanjay Kaba

Former Telecom Fiji Limited and Amalgamated Telecom Holdings director Sanjay Lal Kaba has been acquitted after the Suva Magistrates Court ruled that Fiji's anti-corruption agency failed to produce sufficient evidence to support its case.

Resident Magistrate Charles Ratakele today upheld a no-case-to-answer application filed by Kaba's defence team, dismissing the charge and acquitting him without requiring him to call any evidence.

Kaba had been charged with obtaining a financial advantage contrary to section 326(2) of the Crimes Act 2009. FICAC alleged that while serving as a director of Telecom Fiji Limited and Amalgamated Telecom Holdings, Kaba used information obtained through his position to help his company, Houng Lee-Kaba Jacob Pte Limited, secure work connected to Telecom Fiji's new headquarters and data centre project.

The Court, however, found that essential parts of the prosecution case had not been established.

In a detailed ruling delivered today, Magistrate Ratakele noted that FICAC had no direct evidence that Kaba personally submitted or caused the submission of an Expression of Interest using confidential information.

Instead, the prosecution relied largely on circumstantial evidence and invited the Court to infer that misconduct had occurred because Kaba had access to board information and his company later participated in the tender process.

The Court rejected that approach.

One of the most significant findings centred on the timeline of events.

The ruling notes that Kaba resigned from the Telecom Fiji and ATH boards on 7 December 2018. However, the Expression of Interest process at the centre of the case was not publicly advertised until 17 December 2018, with submissions closing days later.

The Court found that the prosecution had failed to explain how Kaba could have engaged in the conduct alleged within the timeframe specified in the charge when the Expression of Interest process had not yet commenced.

The Court also found that FICAC failed to establish that any allegedly confidential information was in fact confidential, non-public or uniquely available to Kaba.

Evidence presented during the trial showed that discussions about consolidating Telecom Fiji's operations and developing a new headquarters had been ongoing within the organisation for years.

Magistrate Ratakele further found that the prosecution failed to establish a causal link between the alleged conduct and the eventual payments made to HLK Jacob.

The ruling highlighted that the project passed through multiple independent stages, including public tender processes, evaluation committees, board approvals and financial verification procedures before any payments were made.

The Court found no evidence that those processes had been manipulated, compromised or bypassed.

As a result, the Court concluded that two essential elements of the offence had not been proven even at the prima facie stage.

Kaba was represented by a defence team that included Wasu Pillay and Devanesh Sharma who consistently argued throughout the proceedings that the prosecution had failed to produce evidence showing any misuse of confidential information, any improper influence over the tender process, or any proof that HLK Jacob was not entitled to receive payment for work performed.

In delivering the final outcome, Magistrate Ratakele upheld the no-case-to-answer application and dismissed the charge pursuant to section 178 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2009.

The Court ordered that Sanjay Lal Kaba be acquitted.

FICAC has 28 days to appeal the decision.

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