20 Oct 2006

Fijian lawyer pleads guilty to perverting course of justice

9:43 am on 20 October 2006

A Fiji lawyer who came into the limelight during the coup trials of two years ago has pleaded guilty to attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Abhay Singh has been released on bail to spend the Diwali weekend with his family pending mitigation and sentencing on Monday.

Abhay Singh admitted advising a prosecution witness in a corruption case involving 120-US dollars in July 2003 to change his testimony and lie.

The witness informed police Singh had approached him to make a deal and police equipped him with a recording device which recoded the next conversation.

When questioned by police, Singh denied that the voice on the tape was his but pleaded guilty before Justice Anthony Gates just before his trial was due to begin.

The Fiji Law Society is likely to bar Abhay Singh from practising after he is sentenced.

Fiji's Director of Public Prosecutions brought in an Australian prosecutor, Kieran Raftery, to prosecute this case.