“Justice has won,” says Fiji’s acting Director of Public Prosecutions John Rabuku following the sentencing of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and former police commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho.

Speaking to The Fiji Times, Rabuku said that while they welcomed the judgment by acting Chief Justice Salesi Temo, there was nothing to celebrate about the outcome of the case.

Former Fiji prime minister Bainimarama was sentenced to  one year in prison for perverting the course of justice.

Bainimarama, alongside suspended Fiji Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho appeared in the High Court in Suva last Thursday 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 was sentenced to two years jail for abuse of office.

“We don’t celebrate anybody that is going into jail,” said Rabuku.

Worked ‘without prejudice’
“All we can say is that at the end of the day justice wins in this case.

“We will not celebrate the fact that a former prime minister and a former police commissioner have gone in.”

Rabuku said his team of prosecutors had achieved what the state had set out to do.

“I think our team are seasoned prosecutors.

“They looked at all of the facts and worked to prosecute without any prejudice.

“That is something that we have maintained throughout this whole case.

“Again, from our side, at the end of the day justice wins.”

Republished from The Fiji Times with permission.

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