The High Court judge presiding over the corruption trial of deposed prime minister, Laisenia Qarase, has confirmed the guilty verdict delivered yesterday by the assessors. Justice Priyantha Fernando endorsed Qarase’s guilt on all nine counts. He set down a mitigation hearing tomorrow, where Qarase’s lawyer, Tupou Draunidalo, is expected to plead for leniency. A sentencing date will then be fixed. In the meantime, Mr Qarase has been allowed bail. The former prime minister now faces a prison term and is automatically barred – because of the conviction – from contesting the 2014 election.
And now, Mr Davis, we will see very interesting comments…because justice that has been delivered will be seen as injustice by many 😀
As I see it, he ripped off the ordinary Fijians to benefit his own family and his own village. For a self-proclaimed protector of Indigenous interests, the case exposes his self interest and hypocrisy doesn’t it? Sad if the indigenous people themselves can’t see that.
Mr X
In anticipation of the mob and their comments I post some relevant news from 2 years ago !!
Amnesty says Fiji court ruling work of “one brave judge”
Posted at 06:38 on 02 August, 2010 UTC
Amnesty International New Zealand’s chief says a Fiji court ruling clearing a prominent Fiji human rights lawyer signifies the courage of one brave judge rather than a change for the better.
High Court judge Justice Priyantha Fernando cleared Imrana Jalal of all charges relating to operating a restaurant without a licence but her husband still faces one charge.
Patrick Holmes says Ms Jalal, who’s just moved to the Philippines, has been bullied out of Fiji and she fears the judge who made the ruling may now be at risk.
Pita Cama,
You might be correct, to a point. I wonder what Ratu Timoci Vesikula and others were up to when the shares were floated – did they convene a meeting of the Tailevu Provincial Council to bid for those Class A shares?
I am no supporter of Laisenia Qarase and I am a sotia from Tailevu province. What irks me is that the first thing Frank did was to conjure up a massive back pay of nearly $200,000 and is also collecting two salaries – as PM and head of our military forces.
What Qarase did at the time seems to be an opportunistic but smart move as an individual who sensed profit?
What were our educated Tailevu kai vatas and chiefs doing – drinking grog?
Again, we at the barracks dont understand – Sitiveni Weileilakeba bought massive Class A shares for his family company Stik Investments and just because he declared it, he is not guilty but a principal prosecution star witness?
Supposed Laisenia Qarase had declared his interests, than by applying the law to Weileilakeba he would not have been guilty?
I am still confused – how much profit did Qarase make personally out of those shares, and who did he deprive of profits?
Did our Tailevu Provincial Council, chiefs, individuals, and investors made a bid for those Class A shares or not?
If not, it reflects more on the lazinessness of our own people than on the cleverness of Qarase and Weileilekaba?
I am no lawyer, businessman or chief but an ordinary sotia still in the military
Sotia the Tailevu Provincial Council did not have the money to buy Class A shares. Ratu Timoci admitted that.
E warai ni voli rawa baleta ni lekaleka nai qila ni Yasana!
Dont waste your time worrying about what if Qarase did this, or did that etc.
The facts are he did not declare his interest FULL STOP. If Weleilakeba did declare his interest why didnt Qarase do the same? Cant you see the difference?
The ammount of profit Qarase made, even it be one dollar…does not matter in law…he profited from the transaction FULL STOP. Thats all that is required to be proven.
Ram Sami
Patricia Jalal was a small fry and was charged with running a restaurant without a license – she was not running for power or leading a major Fijian political party like Laisenia Qarase. She was not pursuing Frank Bainimarama for allegedly murdering those CRW soldiers?
So stop barking up the wrong tree!
Bula Graham
I would be very grateful if you could remind one Chand (of course he is not giving his first name) to restrain his language everytime he responds to his critics – he not only devalues himself but the site – Loloma yani
Chand, I have to agree with Sotia. Can you please do us all a favour and moderate your language? No point in making good points – as you do – but turning people off so that they skip the rest. Thanks.
Chand is my real name.
And I’m sure Sotia is not your family or surname….so bite your own bullet mate.
I’m not going to complain to Graham about people who don’t understand and are confused about the basic tenets of common and criminal law and who devalues the sensibilities of a normal man and his dog on this blog.
Sotia, I am and that’s who I am. I am no Gandhi and neither do I double speak. I know of shady characters and racists (on both sides) and my biff is with them.
If you are in the kitchen, be prepared to stand the heat. Thats basically who I am.
I can see that you are a reasonable person but a bit confused and I pray that time will sort issues out for you.
I have noticed that other (Valued) bloggers have begun to answer some of your querries.
Ask Petelo
God Bless
In Corporations and Company Law, directors have the same privilege of owning shares as an external entity.
However, that right comes with the responsibility of disclosure. Weleilakeba did it and Qarase did not, according to the recorded minutes which would be the bigger part of the facts and evidence. This and other such directors’ duties still apply after they have left office.
If Weleilakeba had lied before, why should we believe his evidence against Laisenia Qarase?
Sitiveni Weleilakeba was originally charged with one count of giving false information to public servant.
Magistrate Amani Katonivualiku head heard that on October 27, 1992, Weleilakeba had given false information to the Registrar of Companies, thereby causing the Registrar of Companies to declare that Fijian Holdings Limited was a Public Company.
FICAC had alleged that such an act would not have taken place if the true state of facts concerning the said Fijian Holdings Limited Resolution were known to him.
FHL was registered as a public company on the South Pacific Stock Exchange on the 20th of January 1997.
@ Wai Lei
Oi….Qarase is the one on trial here, not Weleilakeba.
The Companies Act 2006 states
A director need not declare an interest in the following circumstances – if the other directors are already aware of it ( and for this purpose the other directors are terated as aware of anything of which they ought reasonably to be aware of
We heard during Mr Qarase’s trial that the other director’s were aware of his interests
Whatever legal arguments we indulge in, it is a given fact that Laisenia Qarase has been charged and now convicted to bar him from contesting the elections – we are still waiting for Bainimarama to come up with evidence that his coup was “a clean up campaign”.
It seems its more about clean up your enemies first
R.I.P Qarase.
Qarase and Mahen clearly took advantage of their positions for their personal pecuniary benefits – the evidence is solid.
Mahen habitually accused others of ‘feathering the nest’, his favourite term.
Ironically, mahen and qarase epitomize “feathering the nest”, in mahen’s case to the tune of $3m raised for the poor but secreted to his personal bank account.
These two are ‘birds of the same feather’.
Both have demonstrated how to use one’s political position to get rich.
While running for office, Mahen and Qarase promised to serve their people, not themselves and their families.
If you call a spade a spade, both these leaders are morally corrupt, greedy, self-serving liars. They deserve to be behind bars because behaviour like theirs, if allowed to continue, spreads like cancer.
The commoners suffer the most, because it is their entitlements that that is usually stolen, as demonstrated in both the qarase and mahen case. They were taking away bread from the common man’s mouth, one by misappropriating donations, the other stocks and shares.
What is surprising is the length some people are going to in order find and make excuses for the two ‘leaders’ in a futile bid defend their actions.
Whatever Bainimarama did should not obscure the fact that these two were using their positons to illegally misappropriate monies.
Some die-hard supporters can’t handle the truth. Corrupt, racist, leaders in Fiji thrive on this type of blind support.
Such supporters are more concerned about the political parties and leaders they support – like support for a sports team – rather than about the welfare of the poor, or about corruption, or what is good for the country.
It is about time people took a dose of reality and faced up to the facts, however painful.
Qarase is from the same old school of previous politician who manipulates the Fijian chiefly system ways for their benefit. Election time they come around to the province visting villages and promising everything as well as giving the chiefs abit of gift wink wink who then tells his people who to vote for.
The moment they take office they look down at everyone, use their position for monetary gains and oh yes to hell with the promises. The said thing is next election they do it all over again and the people in the village fall for it again because they aren’t educated enough to catch the bullshit.
Well this time lots of the village sons and daughters are educated, some have travelled the world and even live and experience other countries and with that they are able to help their own to combat the bullshit. This current goverment may have flawd but tell me which government doesnt, from the aussie government whom most of their policy are dictated to by their trade unions to the british and americans who have big businesses donating and influencing policies.
At least what this government is trying to do is a very courageous thing which if successful will only make Fiji better. Success always comes at a price, it just depends on how much are you willing to accept.
moto bitu … explain why is it that this illegal government is given the all clear to be imperfect and to be accepted when it winked at the people and mutter – it will just take over the other government because they are not imperfect – at least it got there legally … if they are not perfect – kick them out and put another in its place … how can you kick this one out as they are sure not perfect – why should they be spared
It is such a shallow argument to try and justify these lot and give them some form of legitimacy because they are doing good things … they are bunch of crims and crooks … but you are stuck with them a bunch of faggots who are only powerful because they have guns …
I believe this case should have been dismissed based on the simple fact that the main issue of minutes being recorded to show if Qarase declared his interest or not WERE NOT AVAILABLE, thus, this in itself would create DOUBT since we would never know whether it was or wasn’t. Simple. But a conviction must be made for the main enemy of the regime.
Having said this, I find moto bitu’s comments rather contradictory. MB said: “This current goverment may have flawd but tell me which government doesnt,”
OK MB if this is the case then why did Voreqe forcefully take over LQ and Mahen’d Multi-party, which according to Voreqe he saw it fit then that “the LQ Multi-party” was corrupt and needed a clean-up…hmmm. Why did he have to use guns? Why didn’t Voreqe take LQ to court with evidence instead of making a whole country suffer?
@ Ed
Minutes or no minutes, the fact is Qarase took advantage of his position as a ‘public officer’ for personal gain, for the gain of his family and for the gain of his fellow tribesmen.
The minutes was not the best evidence available – witnesses like Weleilakeba said it only recorded major decisions and not other superflous information.
Well, the fact of the matter now is that because of their tardiness in record keeping the former executives of the FHL have brought about the conviction of one of their own.
Motu Bitu is right when he recalls the duplicity of previous politicians in the SDL & SVT who used the chiefly system and the Methodist Church to sway indigenous Fijian opinion.
As for an explanantion of why Frank took over – mate, its now 2012!
Whats done is done. Lets not agonise over the past. Lets move on and build a better Fiji
Qarase’s interests were well known to the Sellers of Shares and well known to the Buyers so conlict is mitigated and no material damage occured. There are more damages from undeclared conflicts this government is doing every day by their lack of accountability to the people.
And if what is done is done … As pointed out by Pious … Why did they have to dig this matter up now … What LQ did is done … No harm caused no one was declared bankrupt or made millions … This regime is not done and will meet it’s judgement day when it comes when the people will have their say on who runs their Fiji
Rubbish.
The law caught up with him and hopefully others in positions of authority will learn not to use their official position for personal gain.
Well fanning fark … Can’t wait when the new laws by real lawmakers caught up with the faggots fanning farks who dare past judgement on law abiding citizens
Your ‘law abiding citizen’ has just got 12 months as a guest of the government.
Sure ‘ff’ – he has done no harm to any person and will do no harm where he is today – at a small cost per day for his keep … But you fanning fark will have to live with the illegal guest you support at the moment and you are paying for that privilege big time a little longer.
The ‘law abiding citizen’ now in jail will be able to walk the street anywhere in the word after 12 months and still have his balls intact and not have to worry about looking behind his behind …
the table will turn … one day …