The head of Fiji’s prison service has been caught on camera involved in a fist fight that appears to have taken place at the popular O’Reilley’s Bar in the capital of Suva.

Sevuloni Naucukidi, the acting Commissioner of the Fiji Corrections Service (FCS), can be seen in the viral video throwing punches at another man as staff at the establishment scramble to contain the situation.

The 30-second clip of the incident, shared online by The Fiji Times today, had been viewed more than half a million times, with more than 8200 reactions and almost 2000 shares by 1pm (NZT).

Naucukidi was appointed to act as the Fiji prison chief at the end of March after the FCS Commissioner Dr Jalesi Nakarawa was stood down by the Constitutional Offices Commission following allegations of misbehaviour.

Police spokesperson Wame Boutolu told The Fiji Times that no complaint had been filed with police regarding the incident.

The newspaper reported that it was not clear whether the incident took place before or after Naucukidi’s appointment as FCS acting commissioner.

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

The Fiji Times reported later that Justice Minister Siromi Turaga had said that a “certain level of decorum is expected at all times — particularly when in uniform, whether that be Bula Friday wear or your official work attire”.

He made the comments in relation to the controversial video.

Turaga said preliminary investigations indicated that the footage was from an earlier date.

“We have contacted the owners of the establishment, who have confirmed that the video likely dates back to early March 2025,” he said.

The Fiji Times video clip.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz