When Christopher Pryde goes on leave as DPP to answer the allegations of financial misconduct against him, the Judicial Services Commission appoints an Acting DPP, Nancy Tikoisuva, to assume his powers and he is sidelined. But when Barbara Malimali goes on leave as FICAC Commissioner with her reputation under a cloud, she remains in the job with all her powers intact and the JSC appoints an Acting Deputy Commissioner with none of the same powers.
Go figure, Fiji. Yet it’s just one of the many inconsistencies in the conduct of the JSC and the rogue Chief Justice who heads it, Salesi Temo – one law for the white goose who the JSC is desperate to prise from the job of DPP and another for the little black duck who has been installed to keep the corruption watchdog away from the nation’s politicians.
Let’s get one thing straight. Barbara Malimali hasn’t been suspended so that she can no longer intimidate upcoming FICAC witnesses at the Commission of Inquiry into her appointment, having sacked her chief investigator, Kuliniasi Saumi, in extraordinary circumstances after his own evidence revealed the existence of the explosive “smoking gun” recording at FICAC headquarters on September 5 last year.
She is still in the top job and still able to intimidate witnesses because she retains her unfettered power. “Going on leave” is a farce. Malimali isn’t banned from the FICAC office, which she would have been had the JSC acceded to Justice David Ashton-Lewis’s request for her to be suspended. She can come and go as she pleases. And she hasn’t gone on holiday at all. In fact she is giving evidence at the Commission of Inquiry today (Friday).
The Counsel Assisting the Commission, Janet Mason, says it is “not exactly happy” with what the JSC has done. Having asked that Barbara Malimali be suspended, she is still FICAC Commissioner. Mason asks the new Acting Deputy Commissioner – Magistrate Lisiate Fotofili – to ensure that FICAC witnesses are not intimidated when they give their evidence next week. But it is not an assurance he can give because he isn’t in charge of the corruption watchdog. Barbara Malimali is.
The whole thing is a farce. And the buck doesn’t stop with the JSC. The buck stops with the Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, who the New Zealand Kings Counsel, Professor Philip Joseph, confirms has the power to advise the President, Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu, to suspend Barbara Malmali but has chosen not to do so. He recommended instead that she remain in the job and simply take leave despite the grave concerns about her abusing her position by sacking Kuliniasi Saumi.
Why? Why has the Prime Minister protected the FICAC Commissioner by keeping her in place when Christopher Pryde was stood aside? It is the central question Sitiveni Rabuka needs to answer now that he is back in the country – the extraordinary manipulation of the supposedly “independent” offices of state to suit his government’s own purposes. And the politicisation of the judiciary that has seen the JSC secretly become an instrument of the Prime Minister’s’ control even as he continually makes the excuse that he has “no control over it because it is independent”. It is Fiji’s sickest joke.
For now, David Ashton-Lewis and Janet Mason seem resigned to not getting their way and securing Barbara Malimali’s suspension, despite having gone to all the trouble and expense of getting Philip Joseph KC to finally establish that the Prime Minister has had the power all along to remove her. They may be waiting for hard evidence that Malimali is still the hand in Lisiate Fotofili’s glove. Or for any sign of discomfort on the part of their FICAC witnesses that they face intimidation from Barbara Malimali if they tell some inconvenient truths. But let’s not pretend this is justice. It is yet another stitch-up to protect the interests of the Coalition government.
It is a great shame that the local media in Fiji seems oblivious to the pantomime being played out in front of them, which Grubsheet explained in our previous article. The Fiji Sun trumpets this morning that the JSC has “buckled” by sending the FICAC Commission on leave. It has done nothing of the sort. In fact it has defied the Commission of Inquiry’s demand that she be suspended and has also set a dangerous precedent of putting a member of the judiciary into a top job in government.
What happens if any matter arising from his time as Acting FICAC Deputy Commissioner comes up when Magistrate Fotofili returns to the bench? He is going to have to recuse himself and not hear a particular case. It’s called the law of unintended consequences. And it’s the only rule of law that prevails in Fiji right now with an incompetent and pliant Chief Justice and a Prime Minister and his Attorney General who are manipulating events behind the scenes for their own political purposes.
Our only hope is that David Ashton-Lewis – Fiji’s Obi Wan Kenobi – presses on undaunted and produces a report that is explosive enough to blow this tortured pantomime to smithereens. Whether it is released officially or not – and there is no obligation on the President to do so – its findings will emerge one way or another. And they are a volcano under this government that, inshallah, will eventually blow and spray molten lava on a great many reputations. And burn the Coalition in the court of public opinion all the way to election day.
A totally misleading headline in the Fiji Sun….
Some pressing questions to answer. But with this media, will they ever be asked?
Hopefully justice awaits when Obi Wan Kenobi – Fiji’s only hope – wields his lightsaber.
Graham I will need to repeat a few things that are important to this whole shit show.
1. Rabuka and PAP will be appointing a printing company ( name to be withheld for now ) to print the ballot papers. The company will ensure more papers are printed and votes will already be in Rabuka’s favor thus ensuring his return to power post 2026 elections.
2. Malimali is the smoking gun who will protect the likes of Queen of Slut Lynda Tabuya, Biman Prasad and Manoa Kamikamica from being prosecuted by FICAC and convicted before elections . Instead Malimali will execute political enemies like Aseri Radrodro to ensure SODELPA is put to rest like Fiji First.
3. Cabinet this past week has endorsed changes to the Electoral Act. Candidates will now not have to declare their assets before elections or who donates to their campaign .
4. Constitution change will ensure PAP gets voted back in because it’s what the radical ITAukei is demanding – the removal of the laws that allow all Fiji citizens to be called Fijian.
Let’s just accept the majority of whom voted Rabuka in and disliked Frank are now being punished for rebirthing the evil master of 1987.
The only hope now is to pray hard that God removes Rabuka and his clowns from this earth before 2026. So people let’s mention his name to God and his cronies and ask God to deliver us from their evil !
This pretty much sums up what to expect. This time these guys will ensure that the mechanisms available to them are utilised properly to entrench them and their followers into the government system.
The country is theirs and those who don’t like it can head for the departure gates.
The government is satan’s spiritual realm and it’s extremely difficult exposing people with power in this world but the only way we can fight against them is through the power of God. Pray for the nation and the truth to be revealed
Barbara has committed crimes after crimes period !! Not declaring than she has been banned from legal practice in another jurisdiction; sacking a witness giving evidence in a hearing where Malimali is under scrutiny; – that’s trying to pervert the course of justice. And paying her fat lawyer Tanya Waqanika from FICAC budget, there will be charges waiting for her when this sham of a government is over!!
Meanwhile Nemani Tuifagalele, the Lelean Old Boy who ignores he attended the missionary school and pretends to be a QVS OB, was the complainant that got Saumi sacked! They fail to realize that a recording produced as evidence which captures illegal activities being conducted is admissible.
Nemani Tuifagalele is a criminal who tried and tried to be given an appointment somewhere in govt but like Simi Vakawaletabua, these boys can’t because they have heaps of issues with their Trust Accounts!!
Sobo the bloody idiots viavia QVSOB tiko vakamadua !! Nemani the snitch is now your new title !
Watch what this Government is doing and not what it’s saying.
And its seems to be doing a whole lot that’s Sweet Fanny Adams.
The COI sought suspension. The JSC claimed it didnt have the powers to do so.
The COI sought legal clarifications from Leung. The AG declined to do his job.
The COI sought an interpretation from Professor Philip Joseph (KC) who confirmed Malimali could be suspended by JSC/President. The government chose to “ask” her to go on annual leave.
This iTaukei government is more slippery then a tube of lube smeared over a sex toy, and will do everything under the sun to continue enjoying their sordid and corrupt lives.
What an image. I’m glad I didn’t think of that.
And that toy is being shoved up the country
Sadly a vast majority of the country are enjoying the slippery toy being shoved up their behind. That is exactly what they want to keep the vulagi at bay.
Look at that wanna be young fella who has Leung’s thinking cap on.
The Shmuckery of it all!
It was indeed wishful thinking that this Coalition Govt would be better. THEY’RE NOT!
To Rabuka and his band of brothers, as Beyonce aptly puts it – To the left, to the left, everything you own, in the box to the left!
Thank you NEXT!
I doubt anyone will pay any notice of CoI report given the track record of the government so far.
The PM too busy telling public that his family is traumatized by the events of 1987. At least his family was not assaulted, tortured or raped…how tone deaf can this person be. He is also waiting in the police queue for his stolen cattle…he must be too busy to turn his attention to national affairs.
How long was the PM away for? And what was achieved?
I guess a lot of travel allowance has been accrued – that would be the biggest achievement. God bless Fiji.
The snake is busy attending meetings and prayers abroad while Fiji burns! Civil servants are talking about his PA being a constant fixture in his travels….attending bilateral meetings and official engagements. Never seen stupidity in any official engagement before except for this circus of a government! A joke and laughing stock for foreign counterparts.
He was in Israel trying to confirm Fiji’s Embassy there -at least 10 days.
The country cannot fix its main hospital but open new embassy? No problem. Baimaan will say it was in the budget.
Quote 1 by Ayn Rand (American publicist)
When the law or government no longer protects us from the corrupt,
But protects the corrupt from us the people
We know the nation is DOOMED!
Quote 2 : Karl Kraus (Austrian Writer)
Corruption is worse than prostitution.
The latter may endanger the morals of an individual,
the former invariably endangers the morals of the entire country .
The shameless, boastful, and incompetent FICAC Commissioner Barbara Mailmali gives an impression as if she has done a great favor to the country by voluntarily going on leave. She could only do this because of the protection she has from Rabuka and Temo.
She should have been suspended as per the advice from KC. She doesn’t understand the difference between leave and suspension. She has conveniently disregarded that the COI is investigating her appointment. So common sense demands that she should vacate her position until such time the inquiry is completed.
The Fiji Media can’t see things clearly. They should have questioned why she wasn’t suspended?. Why has the JSC and the Prime Minister not consider suspending her based on the advice given. Are they afraid of something, or if Malimali was appointed to do what the PM tells her to do.
What next?
We have forgotten to acknowledge another woman in this all. For good reasons.
Alex F has been instrumental in bringing light to many cases and corruption in Fiji.
It must be extremely difficult for this woman to bringing so many concerns to light.
I acknowledge her for her patriotism and dedication.
Just gets worse at the DPP’s office.
Viti News Plus reports…
Legal Chaos: DPP’s No-Show and AG’s Office Blunders Raise Serious Concerns
The state of Fiji’s legal institutions is becoming increasingly concerning, with the latest incidents raising serious questions about the efficiency and leadership within key government offices.
This morning, in a highly anticipated case involving former Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, Sharun Ali, Shaenaz Voss, and Fiji Airways, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) failed to appear when the matter was called at 9:00 AM. The court stood down the case, allowing time for the prosecution to show up. However, when the matter was recalled after 30 minutes, the DPP’s office was still absent. With no representation from the prosecution, the court proceeded with submissions from the defense lawyers.
In a dramatic turn, while submissions were ongoing, a police prosecutor entered the courtroom and informed the court that she had been instructed to seek more time for the DPP to appear. The request was made despite the DPP’s repeated absence, forcing yet another stand-down.
This display of disorganization from the DPP’s office is just the latest in a string of legal blunders. Only recently, in another matter, the Attorney-General’s office failed to file court documents on time, resulting in costs being awarded against them. Such fundamental procedural failures suggest a concerning level of dysfunction at the highest levels of Fiji’s legal system.
The role of the DPP and AG’s office is crucial in upholding the rule of law, ensuring fair prosecution, and maintaining public confidence in the judicial process. However, their repeated missteps are painting a picture of an administration in shambles.
If the institutions meant to safeguard justice cannot even meet basic procedural requirements, what does that say about their ability to handle more complex legal matters? The lack of accountability, leadership, and preparedness within these offices is alarming, and it raises serious concerns about the future of Fiji’s legal system.
At a time when public confidence in governance is already fragile, these failures only reinforce perceptions of incompetence and mismanagement. The question now is: will those in charge take responsibility and restore credibility, or will this chaos continue to erode the integrity of Fiji’s legal institutions?
But you forget, again… these are the ‘high standards’ which are being practised by the incompetents in office. Starting from the pedo President, the shit PM, the crooked CJ and the list goes on.
One must maintain the highest standards equivalent to the competence of the iTaukei masters. These people can do no wrong in their own land and they can do what they want in their own land. The vulagi standards are out of place in such a place. This is now the new normal. “Our country after all”
The singular motto of Biman-Rabuka coalition is to make as much money as fast as possible and fill their pockets…by hook or by crook.
Fiji Government has started blocking comments on their official pages. It can’t take the heat of the truth.
Biman barking like a mad dingo, Carsn snoozing while throwing random nonsense about cane farming, Rabuka isnt aware and Lynda parading her flesh.
When a 1000 conman died, their souls combined to make Rabuka. When a 1000 liars died, they formed Biman.
The people of Fiji must stop the shitshow of these donkeys or it will be too late by 2026.
This is what FijiFirst held back for 16 years for us. All the jungle.
It might be too late. We have gone backwards.