The High Court has sentenced a former member of Parliament, John Kaliuae Maetia to three and a half years imprisonment for Official Corruption.
This follows a hearing last week in which submissions on the case were heard from the defence and prosecution.Mr Maetia was charged with 35 counts of official corruption while a fellow accused Clement Rojumana was charged with 25 counts of the same charges.
The allegations say they had illegally granted citizenship to 25 Asians in 2003.
At the time of the allegations Mr Rojumana was minister of Home Affairs and Mr Maetia was Chairman of the Citizenship Commission. Both men had stood trial at the High Court.
Mr Rojumana was acquitted but Mr Maetia, was found guilty last week on nine counts of the Official Corruption charges.
Handing out the sentence this morning, Justice Naquilevu said the Court has taken into consideration the age of the accused.
He says the Court has also taken into consideration the totality principle of an appropriate sentence, given the maximum sentence for each count is seven years.
Mr Maetia will serve count 27 consecutively to count 26, while counts 28 to 34 will served concurrently to Count 27.