Former Fiji Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama has been sentenced to one year in prison, Fiji media are reporting.

Bainimarama, alongside suspended Fiji Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho appeared in the High Court in Suva today for their sentencing hearing for a case involving their roles in blocking a police investigation at the University of the South Pacific in 2021.

Qiliho has been sentenced to two years jail.

Bainimarama and Qiliho jailed.      Video: Fiji Village

Bainimarama, the 69-year-old former military commander and 2006 coup leader, had been found guilty of perverting the course of justice.

Qiliho had been found guilty of abuse of office by the High Court Acting Chief Justice Salesi Temo, who upheld the state’s appeal.

Bainimarama and Qiliho walked out of the High Court in Suva in handcuffs, and were escorted straight into a police vehicle.

“The former PM and the suspended COMPOL were found not guilty and acquitted accordingly by Resident Magistrate Seini Puamau at the Suva Magistrates Court on 12 October 2023,” the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions said.

“The State had filed an appeal against their acquittal where the Acting Chief Justice, Salesi Temo then overturned the Magistrate’s decision and found the two guilty as charged. The matter was then sent back to the Magistrates’ Court for sentencing.

“In sentencing the duo, Magistrate Puamau announced that both their convictions would not be registered. The former PM was granted an absolute discharge while the suspended COMPOL received a conditional discharge with a fine of $1500 on 28 March 2024 by the Suva Magistrates Court following which the State had filed an appeal and challenged the discharge for a custodial sentence.

“The Acting Chief Justice quashed the Magistrate Court’s sentence and pronounced the custodial sentences respectively.”

Earlier today, local media reported an increased police presence outside the Suva court complex.

“There is more pronounced police presence than usual with vehicles being checked upon entry. A section has been cordoned off in front of the High Court facing Holiday Inn,” broadcaster fijivillage.com reported.

State broadcaster FBC reported that police only allowed close relatives and Bainimarama and Qiliho’s associates, along with the media, to sit in the courtroom.

MPs from the main opposition FijiFirst party in Parliament, including opposition leader Inia Seruiratu, Faiyaz Koya were present in court.

Brief timeline:

• The duo were sentenced by the Magistrates Court on 28 March.
• Magistrate Seini Puamau gave Bainimarama an absolute discharge — the lowest level sentence an offender can get and no conviction was registered.
• Qiliho was fined FJ$1500 and without a conviction as well.
• The 69-year-old former military commander and 2006 coup leader was found guilty of perverting the course of justice in a case related to the University of the South Pacific; and suspended police chief Qiliho was found guilty of abuse of office by the High Court Acting Chief Justice Salesi Temo.
• Magistrate Puamau’s judgement had left many in the legal circles and commentators in the country perplexed.
• The State – through the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution – had appealed the sentencing straightaway to the High Court.
• They were back in court 7 days later — during the court appearance at the High Court, the Acting Chief Justice Salesi Temo, gave time until the 24 April for the respondents to file their submissions and for the State to reply by the 29th.
• The sentencing hearing was last Thursday, 2 May.
• Acting Chief Justice Salesi Temo sentences Bainimarama to one year in jail and Qiliho for two years.

Bainimarama’s attempt to pervert the course of justice charge had a maximum tariff of five years while Qiliho’s charge of abuse of office carried a maximum tariff of 10 years.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case.

Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with a fine of FJ$1500 ($NZ$1110) for abuse of office by the Suva Magistrates Court earlier today.

Magistrate Seini Puamau announced that both their convictions would not be registered.

“The sentence delivered by Magistrate Puamau is unsatisfactory, is wrong both in fact and in law and does not reflect the considerations and tariff of cases or matters of similar nature,” Acting Director of Public Prosecution John Rabuku said in a statement following the sentencing.

The notice of appeal against the sentence was filed in the High Court this afternoon.

The state has filed four grounds of appeal:

• a. That the sentence imposed by the learned Magistrate against both the Respondents are manifestly lenient and in breach of sentencing principles, case laws and the tariff set in other similar matters and offences.
• b. That the learned Magistrate erred in law and in fact when she made a finding that there were no aggravating factors against the Respondents.
• c. That the learned Magistrate erred in law and in fact in considering irrelevant factors in sentencing the Respondents; and
• d. That the learned Magistrate erred in law and in fact when she made a finding that there was no victim and that the offending was a technical breach by both Respondents.

Lowest-level sentence
An absolute discharge is the lowest-level sentence that an offender can get. It means no conviction was registered against Bainimarama.

State broadcaster FBC News reports that Magistrate Puamau considered Bainimarama’s health.

The 69-year-old was sentenced alongside Qiliho, who was given a FJ$1500 fine without conviction as well.

The absolute discharge and a fine without conviction was given despite the prosecutors last week urging Magistrate Puamau to order immediate custodial sentences towards the high end of the tariff for both men — which would be no less than five years in jail for Bainimarama and 10 years for Qiliho.

RNZ Pacific reported earlier today that a Fiji governance professor, Dr Vijay Naidu, said the magistrate had been sypathetic to both men.

“It is surprising in that the sentencing is like the minimalist kind of approach,” he said.

“I didn’t expect the magistrate to sentence them for the maximum of you know 10 . . . and five years, but the sentence now is quite farcical because these persons are found guilty and they are given sentences that, to say the least, is quite ludicrous.”

He said Bainimarama was “not out of the woods yet” because there was a string of other charges that he would face in the coming months.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Acting Chief Justice Salesi Temo overturned the Magistrates’ Court judgment and convicted both men at the Suva High Court today.

Bainimarama was charged with one count of attempted to pervert the course of justice and Qiliho was charged with one count of abuse of office, the Public Prosecutor’s Office said.

“The former PM and the suspended [police commissioner] were found not guilty and acquitted accordingly by Resident Magistrate Seini Paumau at Suva Magistrates Court on 12 October 2023. The State had filed eight grounds of appeal which mainly centred on the opinion that the Magistrate erred in law and in fact on several evidentiary and procedural issues, thereby resulting in an unfair trial and an erroneous verdict.”

The office said that Justice Temo in his judgment found that the magistrate had erred in fact and in law when she found both the respondents not guilty and therefore overturned the Magistrate’s decision.

“Justice Temo found both the respondents guilty as charged.”

Justice Temo has ordered that this matter be brought before Magistrate Puamau on March 18 at the Suva Magistrates’ Court for her to abide by the decision of the High Court and pronounce both the respondents guilty as charged and convict them accordingly.

“Justice Temo ordered both the respondents and the State to file their mitigation and sentencing submissions by 20 March after which the Magistrate is ordered to conduct a sentence hearing on 21 March followed by the sentencing of the two respondents on 28 March.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Former Fiji prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and former Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum are due to appear in court today on a charge related to abuse of office, as is a former health minister Dr Neil Prakash Sharma.

Fiji state broadcaster FBC reported the trio were interviewed by CID officers yesterday for allegedly failing to comply with statutory requirements for tenders.

All three were kept in custody at the Totogo Police Station overnight.

Bainimarama and Sayed-Khaiyum are each accused of recklessly abusing their position by granting a waiver of tender process without lawful justification.

Sayed-Khaiyum is also charged with obstructing the course of justice.

Sharma faces four counts of abuse of office.

The new charge against Bainimarama comes less than four months after he was found not guilty of perverting the course of justice.

In October, according to local media reports, Magistrate Seini Puamau said the state had failed to establish a compelling case.

“According to their charge sheet, it was alleged that Bainimarama sometime in July 2020 as the Prime Minister directed the Police Commissioner to stop the investigation into a police complaint, in the abuse of the authority of his office, which was an arbitrary act prejudicial to the rights of the University of the South Pacific which is the complainant,” fijivillage.com reported last year.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The Fijian Media Association (FMA) has labelled comments made by former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama this week to media workers of Mai TV, Fijivillage and Fiji Sun outside the Suva courthouse as “distasteful, unbecoming, and unacceptable”.

Bainimarama told the Mai TV cameraman in the iTaukei language on Tuesday: “Qarauna de dua tacaqe, au na qai caqeta yani na muna.” (“Be careful no one stumbles, for I will then kick your backside.”)

The former prime minister also told the Fijivillage cameraperson “watch out, you slip, and then I will kick your backside”.

Earlier in the week, Bainimarama also told a Fiji Sun press photographer “kwan kwan”, a derogatory term commonly used to chase away dogs or animals.

In a statement, FMA said they found these comments highly offensive.

“The FMA continues to reiterate that journalists, photographers and videographers are doing an important work of informing the public, and threats of violence against them is unacceptable,” the statement read.

The FMA stated that journalists had come through a period — 17 years of media repression since the 2006 military coup — where they had been beaten, intimidated, and abused and would not let these threats to deter them from doing their duty.

Former prime minister Bainimarama and suspended police commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho are on trial on a count each of attempting to pervert the course of justice and abuse of office over an abandoned investigation relating to the University of the South Pacific in 2020.

Rakesh Kumar is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The long-running row between the former Fiji government and the Suva-based regional University of the South Pacific (USP) has come back to haunt former Fiji Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, who spent a night in a police cell on March 9 before appearing in court, charged with abuse of office.

Not only did the “USP saga”, as it came to be known, cause a major rift between Fiji and the other 12 USP-member countries, but it may have contributed to the narrow loss of Bainimarama’s FijiFirst Party (FFP) in the December 2022 election.

Bainimarama’s abuse of office charges included accusations of interfering with a police investigation into financial malpractices at USP. If convicted, he would face a maximum sentence of 17 years in jail.

But there are also serious questions about the future of the party that he co-founded, and which won successive elections in 2014 and 2018 on the back of his popularity.

A day before his indictment, there were surreal scenes at the Suva Central Police Station, as police officers marched an ashen-faced Bainimarama to his cell to spend the night before his court appearance the next morning.

This, under the full glare of live media coverage, with journalists tripping over themselves to take pictures of the former military strongman, who installed himself as prime minister after the 2006 coup and ruled for 16 years straight.

Arrested, detained and charged alongside Bainimarama was his once-powerful police chief, Sitiveni Qiliho, who managed a wry smile for the cameras. Both were released on a surety of F$10,000 (about NZ$7300) after pleading not guilty to the charges.

Shut down police investigation
It is alleged that in 2019, the duo “arbitrarily and in abuse of the authority of their respective offices” shut down a police investigation into alleged irregularities at USP when former vice-chancellor Rajesh Chandra was in charge.

In November 2018, Chandra’s replacement, Professor Pal Ahluwalia, revealed large remuneration payments to certain USP senior staff, some running to hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Fiji government, unhappy with Ahluwalia’s attack on Chandra, counter-attacked by alleging irregularities in Ahluwalia’s own administration.

As the dispute escalated, the Fiji government suspended its annual grant to the USP in a bid to force an inquiry into its own allegations.

When an external audit by the NZ accountants BDO confirmed the original report’s findings, the USP executive committee, under the control of the then Fiji government appointees, suspended Ahluwalia in June 2020.

This was in defiance of the USP’s supreme decision-making body, the USP Council, which reinstated him within a week.

Samoa’s then Deputy Prime Minister Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa (who is now prime minister, having won a heavily contested election of her own) said at the time that Ahluwalia’s suspension had been a “nonsense”.

The then Nauruan President Lionel Aingimea attacked a “small group” of Fiji officials for “hijacking” the 12-country regional university.

Students threatened boycott
The USP Students’ Association threatened a boycott of exams, while more than 500 signatures supporting the suspended vice-chancellor were collected and students protested across several of USP’s national campuses. All these events played out prominently in the regional news media as well as on social media platforms.

With Fiji’s national elections scheduled for the following year, the political toll was becoming obvious. However, Bainimarama’s government either did not see it, or did not care to see it.

Instead of backing off from what many saw as an unnecessary fight, it doubled down. In February 2021, around 15 government police and security personnel along with immigration officials staged a late-night raid on Professor Ahluwalia’s Suva home, detained him with his wife, Sandra Price, and put them in a car for the three-hour drive to Nadi International Airport where, deported, they were put on the first flight to Australia.

The move sent shockwaves in Fiji and the region.

To many, it looked like a government that had come to power in the name of a “clean-up campaign” against corruption was now indulging in a cover-up campaign instead. The USP saga became political fodder at opposition rallies, with one of their major campaign promises being to bring back Professor Ahluwalia and restore the unpaid Fiji government grant that stood at F$86 million (about NZ$62 million) at the time.

A month before the 2022 polls, a statement targeting the estimated 30,000 staff and student cohort at USP, their friends and families, urged them to vote against FijiFirst, which would go on to lose government by a single parliamentary vote to the tripartite coalition led by another former coup leader, Sitiveni Rabuka.

Albanese official visit
It was Rabuka who greeted Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on his first official visit to Fiji last week. During talks at the Australian-funded Blackrock military camp, Albanese reportedly secured Rabuka’s support for the AUKUS deal.

Australia is keen for stability in Fiji, which has not had a smooth transition of power since independence, with democratically elected governments removed by coups in 1987, 2000 and 2006. Any disturbance in Fiji has the potential to upset the delicate balance in the region as a whole.

For Bainimarama and his followers, there is much to rue. His claimed agenda — to build national unity and racial equality and to rid Fiji of corruption — earned widespread support in 2014.

His margin of victory was much narrower in 2018 but Bainimarama managed to secure a majority in Parliament to lead the nation again.

His electoral loss in 2022 was followed by a series of dramatic events, which first saw Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, his deputy in all but name, disqualified from holding his seat in Parliament.

Bainimarama went next, suspended for three years by Parliament’s privileges committee for a speech attacking head of state Ratu Wiliame Katonivere. He chose to resign as opposition leader.

Following his March 10 hearing, Bainimarama addressed the media and a few supporters outside court, adamant that he had served the country with “integrity” and with “the best interests” of all Fijians at heart.  The former leader even managed to smile for the cameras while surrounded by a group of followers.

With nearly double the personal votes of the sitting PM Rabuka under Fiji’s proportional representation voting system, Bainimarama’s supporters still harboured some hope that he could return as the country’s leader one day.

However, his health is not the best. He is now out of Parliament and bogged down by legal troubles. Is the sun now setting on the era of Bainimarama and FijiFirst?

Dr Shailendra Bahadur Singh is a frequent contributor to Asia Pacific Report and is on the editorial board of the associated Pacific Journalism Review. This article was originally published by the Lowy Institute’s The Interpreter and is republished here with the author’s permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Fiji’s former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho have been granted bail.

Both men have pleaded not guilty to one count each of abuse of office.

Magistrate Seini Puamau has set bail at FJ$10,000 (NZ$7,000), according to local news media reports.

Bainimarama and Qiliho have also been ordered not to leave the country and to reside at a permanent address.

Magistrate Puamau also ordered them not to interfere with witnesses.

They are next expected in court on May 11.

On Thursday, the country’s top prosecutor sanctioned charges against the two men for obstructing a police investigation in 2019.

Questioned by pollce
Bainimarama and Qiliho were questioned by the Fiji police investigations unit before being held in remand overnight at the Totogo Police Station in in the capital Suva.

It was the first time for a former PM and a police chief to be kept in a police cell facing such allegations.

The two men were greeted by their family members and friends who gathered outside the courthouse.

The pair were photographed by local reporters smiling as they walked into the Magistrates Court Room 3.

‘I served as PM with integrity’
After being granted bail, Bainimarama told local journalists outside the court that he would defend the charges laid against him.

“Look, I want to tell you that I have served as Fiji’s PM with integrity and with the best interest of all Fijians at heart,” he said.

“I have been served this charge against my legacy so I am going to fight this charge. Not only for my reputation but for democracy, for all Fijians, and of course for the Constitution,” he added.

Bainimarama: “I am going to fight this charge. Not only for my reputation, for democracy, for all Fijians, and of course for the Constitution.” pic.twitter.com/5ExBntYTbL

— Stanley Ian Simpson (@stansimpsonfj) March 10, 2023

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Former Fiji Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho appeared before Suva Magistrates Court judge Justice Seini Puamau today and pleaded not guilty to abuse of office charges laid against them.

Justice Puamau stood down the case for 11am as she told the prosecution to provide “substantial evidence” to support the bail conditions it has made.

The conditions set by prosecution include a 8pm to 5am curfew as it has concerns of “high level of interference” with witnesses.

Bainimarama and Brigadier-General Qiliho were charged with one count each of abuse of office after being summoned to the Criminal Investigations Department yesterday afternoon and kept overnight at Totogo Police Station to appear in court today.

Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Christopher Pryde said the charges were for allegedly terminating an active police investigation in relation to the University of the South Pacific in July, 2019, were laid following a review of the police evidence docket which the DPP received on February 17, 2023.

“The former prime minister, Voreqe Bainimarama and the suspended police commissioner, Sitiveni Qiliho, are alleged to have arbitrarily and in abuse of the authority of their respective offices, terminated an active police investigation,” Pryde said.

“The charges relate to a complaint laid with the police by the University of the South Pacific in July, 2019 in relation to the activities of former staff members of the university.

“The police have also been requested to undertake further investigations into other matters arising from this case and more charges may be laid against other suspects in due course.”

Meri Radinibaravi is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Fiji’s top prosecutor has sanctioned charges of abuse of office against former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and the suspended Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho.

In a statement today, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions said the charges relate to a complaint filed by the University of the South Pacific in July 2019.

The complaint concerned the actions of former staff members of the regional university.

Public Prosecutions director Christopher Pryde said both men were alleged to have arbitrarily abused their powers and stopped an active police investigation.

Police have been ordered to further investigate other issues as a result of Bainimarama and Qiliho’s alleged interference and more charges are expected to be laid.

Meanwhile, both men were taken in today for further questioning by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID).

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Kept in custody
Fijivillage News reports that Bainimarama and Qiliho have both been formally charged with abuse of office and will be kept in custody tonight.

Former PM Bainimarama and suspended Commissioner of Police Qiliho are again being questioned by Police pic.twitter.com/YT3OFyaHNq

— Stanley Ian Simpson (@stansimpsonfj) March 9, 2023

The CID chief and Acting Assistant Police Commissioner Sakeo Raikaci told a media conference tonight they would appear in the Suva Magistrates Court at 8am tomorrow.

Acting ACP Raikaci said that given the seriousness of the charge, the pair could not be granted bail as it was not a bailable offence.

Additional security will be provided for the special court sitting tomorrow.

The maximum penalty for abuse of office is 10 years imprisonment.

The Crimes Act states that if the act is done or directed to be done for gain, then the maximum penalty is 17 years imprisonment.

Republished with permission.

Voreqe Bainimarama and Sitiveni Qiliho formally charged. Video: Fijivillage News

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Files submitted to the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC) two years ago over alleged abuse of funds by a former Fiji Sugar Corporation (FSC) executive are believed to have “disappeared”, says Sugar Minister Charan Jeath Singh.

Singh said someone in FICAC would be held responsible for causing the disappearance of the files.

Singh said it was unacceptable that in a case of national importance involving taxpayers’ money, files had disappeared while FICAC found it easy to charge other people for abuse of office.

Speaking to FSC staff members in Labasa this week, Singh said evidence existed to prove allegations against the executive.

“We have sufficient evidence as a result of the investigation and every information points out at alleged corrupt dealing in the mill and at management level,” the minister said.

“The files were given to FICAC two years ago but someone may have deliberately dealt with it which is why it has disappeared,” he said.

“FICAC is good at charging other people in society but when it comes to big sharks, why can’t they be taken to task?”

Files to be resubmitted
Singh said someone in FICAC would be held responsible for losing the files.

“I will leave it with the minister responsible but we need to show the people and tell them what transpired.

“So we have resubmitted the files to FICAC and we want the investigations to be done right away so we can take the executive to task.

“This is to also warn people holding senior positions in state-owned companies that there is no room for corruption.”

Fiji Labour Party leader and National Farmers Union general secretary Mahendra Chaudhry, making submissions to the Standing Committee on Economic Affairs in Lautoka in May 2016, claimed two FSC directors had pocketed $2.4 million in directors’ remuneration between 2012 to 2014.

He claimed that the two directors had jointly picked up fees of $781,000 in 2012, $846,000 in 2013 and $791,000 in 2014, saying the figures he was quoting were lifted directly from FSC annual reports for those years.

In May 2017, Sugar Ministry Secretary Yogesh Karan told The Fiji Times that investigations into the executive were continuing.

He said he had done his part and had given the matter over to the relevant authorities — the Reserve Bank of Fiji and the Fiji Revenue and Customs Authority — to deal with.

Questions sent to FICAC on the comments made by Singh remained unanswered when this edition went to press.

Serafina Silaitoga is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz