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FICAC passes target

Tevita Vuibau
Tuesday, April 03, 2012

THE Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC) recorded a 100 per cent conviction rate in cases taken to court last year.

This exceeded the 95 per cent target conviction rate it set for the year, FICAC revealed in its 2011 annual report.

FICAC deputy commissioner George Langman said the commission received a total of 7805 complaints last year, a decrease of 1476 complaints from 2010.

"Of these complaints, 1060 were identified as corruption-related cases concerning government departments and public officials," Mr Langman said.

Figures showed that most complaints were reported in person with 6210 complaints reported in this manner.

A further 1595 complaints were reported through correspondence.

The report stated that the total number of investigations in 2011 increased by 39 per cent from 2010.

Mr Langman said there were 99 cases investigated in 2011 with FICAC's investigation department managing to complete 47 cases, that led to 19 individuals being charged.

"Of those prosecuted, six were non-public officials, 10 from government departments, one government statutory body, one independent government body and one commercial statutory body," the report stated.

The charges ranged from bribery, abuse of office, uttering forged document, theft and embezzlement.

Forgery charges were the highest laid by FICAC in 2011 with forgery accounting for 21 per cent of all charges laid.

Since 2007, FICAC has received 27,422 complaints with the highest number of complaints - 9281 - recorded in 2010.