Now that Barbara Malimali has been fired as FICAC Commissioner, the next logical step is the suspension of the man who appointed her, the man from whom all corruption and dysfunction in the criminal justice system in Fiji flows – the rogue Chief Justice, Salesi Temo.
The CJ’s suspension is reported to be one of the major recommendations of the Ashton-Lewis Commission of Inquiry into what the Prime Minister has described as the “rotten circumstances” surrounding Barbara Malimali’s appointment. And the silence from Justice Temo since the announcement of Malimali’s dismissal is the silence of a man who must know the axe is about to fall.
There is no ambiguity about the power of the Prime Minister to get rid of Temo whatever the absurd argument mounted by the embattled President of the Fiji Law Society, Wylie Clarke, that the removal of Barbara Malimali has been unlawful because it wasn’t on the recommendation of the Judicial Services Commission headed by guess who? Salesi Temo. Of course he wasn’t going to recommend the removal of his own appointment, you twit. They are birds of a feather. Tweet. *
But Temo’s removal is going to be completely straightforward, just as it was when the Prime Minister removed the last incumbent appointed by the FijiFirst government – the late Kamal Kumar – who died on the very day a judicial tribunal was about to begin hearing the case against him for alleged misbehavior.
It’s all there in Section 111 of the Constitution. And assuming Sitiveni Rabuka is going to implement all the recommendations of the Ashton-Lewis Inquiry – which he seems intent on doing to the surprise of a great many people, Grubsheet included – we can expect these provisions to be triggered soon.
So all very straightforward. Of course, natural justice dictates that any accused is innocent until proven guilty. But the charge of misbehaviour against Salesi Temo is as serious as it gets for someone at the pinnacle of the judiciary – allegedly threatening the supposedly independent corruption watchdog in the form of the then deputy commissioner, Francis Puleiwai, that no charge she laid would be heard by any court in Fiji.
It’s called perverting the course of justice. And the book is about to be thrown at both Salesi Temo and his Chief Registrar, the drink-driving Tomasi Bainivalu, who also faces being suspended for misbehaviour over the events at FICAC on September 5 last year, when Bainivalu allegedly relayed the CJ’s threat to Puleiwai in the presence of others who should have known better, including Wylie Clarke.
After his repeated violations of the Constitution and his extraordinary conduct in branding DPP Christopher Pryde a thief, the game is up for Salesi Temo. If things proceed as they should, he will be replaced by an acting chief justice whose task will be to clean up the unprecedented mess that Temo has left in the criminal justice system and set the ship of state on a proper legal course.
We can be sure the Fijian people will be on the Prime Minister’s side as he takes the sasa broom to the mess he largely created himself with a range of disastrous appointments but which he now seems determined to address before he has to face the people again at next year’s election.
Judging from public reaction in today’s Fiji TImes, there is no sympathy for Barbara Malimali and a great deal of sympathy for Francis Puleiwai, who is set to return to FICAC not only with the confidence and goodwill of the Prime Minister but of ordinary Fijians.
So go for it, Prime Minister. The Fijian people have had a gutful of the antics in the criminal justice system over the past two and a half years and will reward you if you man up and admit your government’s mistakes and equally punish you if you fail to excise the rot at the heart of the state.
Having wielded the axe on Barbara Malimali and sacked attorney general Graham Leung, it is time to wield the axe on Salesi Temo and Tomasi Bainivalu, plus the rest of their ill-judged appointments to the offices of state who have debased those offices and betrayed the trust that was placed in them.
There is no time to waste.
As for Wylie Clarke, while he has his supporters – notably the Yorkshireman and Samisoni son-in-law , Charlie Charters, who keeps harassing Grubsheet in these columns on his mate’s behalf – the President of the Law Society has been eviscerated by Janet Mason, the Counsel Assisting the Ashton-Lewis Commission of Inquiry.
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Finally, what is happening at the Fiji Times? Grubsheet makes it past the gatekeepers this morning and by name.
Heads will surely roll.
Yes, even me.
BTW, I still can’t renew my subscription to the Fiji Sun because I get a blank page every time I try to make the payment. Is anyone else having the same problem? Or are the gang at Gorrie Street shooting blanks just for me?
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A special note to Charlie Charters. You have made your points here. Ad infinitum. This is not a Punch and Judy show for your delectation and to grandstand at my expense.
You have Facebook to whack me without me being able to respond, which you have no compunction in doing. But if you want to do it here, I am under no obligation to facilitate it. Because responding point by point has become tedious in the extreme.
Get your own blog.
Barbara is the face that launched a 1000 writs.
GD. Your push for bukanthe baku to do the right thing won’t get you anywhere.
I have said this before. Captain Crazy will serve more heads on a plate if necessary but Temo is untouchable. Not because he likes Temo, he will throw anyone under the bus, and that is why Biman is shitting himself. But Temo is a very long shot cos to take on Temo would mean buka exposing his own corruption and duplicitous behavior to his own ethno nationalist support base.
Those are the only lot left to support him. He simply can’t disappoint them. So nothing is going to happen to Temo and the report won’t be released, cos both things will signal the last nail in bakus coffin. I always hoped and wished for a spectacular end to bakus four decade long evil and chaos and maybe just maybe this is the start of the end of the devil. He is caught in his own web of deceit and lies and maybe it’s his own people that will eventually turn on him just as they turned on Mara in his last days. You cant fool people forever. But I have to say baku certainly had a good innings.But everyone eventually gets out.
Once all implicated In the report are thrown into Naboro, the President should declare a national public holiday in Fiji to compensate us all for all the pain and suffering caused by enduring this Commission of Inquiry exposure.
Tyrant Temo, Betrayer Biman, and Kunning Kamikamica are untouchable. Rudderless Rabuka only goes after the small fry because doesn’t have the balls to take on the big sharks or confront the real threat to his government and his prime ministership. This is despite the political havoc the terrible trio have unleashed and the disrepute they’ve brought to his administration, Rabuka refuses to act.
Any other prime minister with spine and vision would’ve kicked them out. But Rabuka’s Rambo days are long gone.
He’s now seen as a weak, indecisive leader. The three clearly don’t respect his authority — because he has no idea how to exercise it.
So this circus will continue and the tax payer will continue to pay for Ranu.
G D
The chief Justice Temo’s standing and reputation are in tatters and dismissing him could be the right thing. But, in the background his dismissal could potentially lead to a constitutional crisis leading to suspending the Parliament and calling for an election. Why, because Justice Temo was instrumental in taking part in judicial decision making and case management on cases leading to the imprisonment of former PM, the others. Therefore, all those cases in which Temo took part could rightly be challenged as being unsafe resulting in mass appeals leading to potentially breakdown of law and order. Yup, Fiji is probably going down that route anyway!
Forget the rule of law — in Fiji, it’s the rule of Temo.
The axe has finally moved at Government house. All those implicated in the COI will get the chop as the PM implements the contents-recommendation of the report including the justice system…Justice Salesi Temo will finally be shown the exit door and so will the Chief Registrar and SG to clean up all the mess in our Judicial System. We need new clean and experienced senior lawyers to head our judicial system. There is no two ways about it! Even the acting FICAC Commissioner need not continue with the position once we find a competent replacement!
Vinakavakalevu PM-SLR, for implementing the COI report. Please release it to the public because we the public need to see the rot in our judicial system…clean up our judicial system for the sake of the people of Fiji!
Rabuka is an ITaukei. He knows that when the chips are in your hand- play it ! Right now he is staring at prison or being elected again post 2026 as PM! He can salvage a bit of his image .
Change in government will see him go to prison ! And he cannot afford that so he needs to man up and swallow his pride and pain and dismiss Manoa and Biman from his cabinet! He has the prerogative to do so just as he said to Radrodro when he dismissed him!!
This is also an opportunity to get rid of the snake and lame duck Manoa who is wanting to take over PAP( not that the party can be salvaged ! They are gone ! And should be ).
As for Biman- Rabuka you need to save yourself ! You’ve been telling people including Puleiwai to charge Biman. Now before the Police do that , you do your job and dismiss him from Cabinet!!
As for the Police Commissioner- you may now charge Lynda Tabuya for lying to government officials when she lied in her declaration of assets ! That’s a crime under the Crimes Act! Not just FICAC so please do you job!
Oh and Tudravu- charge Tanya Waqanika for receiving financial gain she was not supposed to accept . When Malimali authorized FICAC to pay for her legal fees in defending herself and her recruitment to be FICAC Commissioner- Tanya as a lawyer knew it was wrong ! She therefore willingly and knowingly accepted a financial gain by collusion to deceive the taxpayers of Fiji!!
Two big ulukau lawyers can’t read basic law or you just all think you can get away with it ??
Now please hurry up with the sasa broom Rabuka and start sweeping !
The Fijians won’t be fooled but you can at least salvage some of your dignity left ! And that of Naiqama !
Rolex Steve is hoping to score some major brownie points with the voting public. He still has a long way to go.
It’s unfair that you support Rabuka. He’s decisions are for political expediency. You should know better.
If that’s the case and the Fiji voters elect him again, who are the fools taken in by them?
The actions to date are only the minor players in a sense, easy targets with a comprehensive COI Report.
The players such as The CJ, the Chief Registrar, A/DPP and the cohort within that office are yet to be dealt with and that will be the true test of the resolve of Rabuka and the President. Do nothing and it will confirm that the COI was an elaborate ruse to take the heat off the PM and the Government.
Reinstating the former deputy FICAC will achieve nothing if the CJ and others remain in place! Any charges laid by her will not proceed, the court system is totally compromised.
Release the entire COI report so as to reveal all of the recommendations and expose all of those involved.
Let’s move forward Fiji!
It would appear that the most honorable and logical steps for Fiji are as follows:
Step 1:
Dissolve Government effective immediately and call a snap election within the next 3 – 4 months. No later than 4 months, to ensure there is no entrenchment of associations and agenda.
a) Stop on all public consultations currently taking place and being administered. To be reviewed in totality after general elections.
Step 2:
Release the full COI report to the public, ensure all those implicated are listed in the stop Departure order to ensure no one flees the country.
Step 3:
Charge and process all implicated and named in the COI report, immediately as per rule of law.
Step 4:
Invite the Military to stand in as the leader of the caretaker government, allow non implicated Permanent Secretaries to control their portfolios.
Step 5:
General Elections to be held and all who stand to be independent candidates – first past the post rule. Then from those truly voted in by the numbers, decide how they form government.
Step 6:
Creation of a Freedom of Information Act. Should be incorporated into the Fiji Constitution to ensure accountability by public offices and Officials.
This is the time SALESI TEMO should be kicked out like a football and charged. RABUKA has no balls. I am sure if the COI report is come out publicly, RABUKA’S position will be untenable. It is about time RABUKA brings back CHRISTOPHER PRYDE and cleans up the DPP office. I am sure the COI report says he has to call an election within 3 months. THE MILITARY COMMANDER MUST give RABUKA a time frame to release the report. If not the MILITARY SHOULD DISSOLVE THE GOVERNMENT and arrange for a fresh election.
Getting rid of Kaimacuata (alias Temo) requires the President to have someone else ready to step into place.
The question is who would be replacing Temo? It must be someone quite independent and free from the well-deserved dirt that Temo and other key members of the judiciary have been tainted with.
Corrupt and incompetent Temo has turned the Judiciary into a circus where he is the performing Clown. He needs to be terminated.
FICAC then needs to lay further charges on the inbred cow Malimali for abuse of office and use of funds to pay Taniya Waqanika – and charge this racist and destitute imbecile too.
Biman and the rest of his stooges who went into FICAC as a gang must also be charged for obstruction and perverting the course of Justice – with the first one being the self proclaimed constitutional law expert Richard the dickhead Naidu.
Karma is a bit*h and it is coming for these f**kwits.
Time to look for a Job.
Things are best done in threes: first, Barbell Malimali, Fotofili and Lethargic Leung.
Next three should be: CJ Kaimacuata, Manoa Kamikamica, Biman Prasad and Filimoni Vosarogo.
Then continue the culling, but for goodness sake release the report.
Whenever I see CJs photo, I dont know why he looks like an old man who’s constipated and trying to pass stone pebbles through his rear.
With the level of corruption the coalition government has reached, I wont be surprised if most of them are constipated with the amount of lies and deceit they have digested without taking a burp.
This is all just vanua politics at its finest. Ratu Naiqama has supposedly chosen the next leader of Fiji: Ratu Rakuita Vakalalabure, who coincidentally wanted the position of Attorney General. So voila! I don’t know what you’re expecting Graham; you’ll get what you have been campaigning for but at what cost if it was for all the wrong reasons?
The racists in Government (and Chaudhry for his own reasons) have been angling to get rid of Biman who is the last defence in their way of essentially controlling the nation with the positions of AG and Minister of Finance. Him staying there until next elections is the most optimistic outcome for this country.
Rabuka is snaking his way out of this by sacrificing Malimali. Every person who has been following this scandal knows too well that the Malimali appointment was tailored to prevent BIMAN’S arrest, that could’ve jeopardised the coalition.
So far I can think of three serious indictable malfeasance that is tied to Malimali’s appointment that nobody is talking about, that Rabaku is guilty of, that will hound Rabuka now, after he vacates office and possibly posthumously.
1 – Perverting the course of justice
2 – Abuse of Office
3 – Nepotism
Malimali was jettisoned with so much haste and panic that Rabuka knowingly tarnished the integrity and independence of FICAC and the judiciary.
These are serous charges that would’ve booted Rabaku’s arse out of office in any other jurisdiction.
Refocus your attention on the gravity of the above three charges that Rabuka allowed.
Events that aren’t even “he said, she said”, but meticulously documented crimes under Rabaku at the helm.
Now he wants to clean up, he’s just shedding his skin.
He’s still a snake and Malimali is just a pawn.
Lynda Tabuya next.
Falsifying her marriage status as divorced yet seen with “spouse” at functions and auspicious occasions. False declarations made concerning her financial position.
Barbara was quick to close her file.
Voters will sway next election. This will hugely cost the coalition and it all comes down to Rabuka’s leadership and that of PAP.
Temo has all the judges and magistrates under his thumb like a thug. They have all been threatened that they should toe his line. We know this. You just have to look at the decisions they are giving out but more importantly the rationale. See the conduct of the DPP staff from nancy to rabuku to laisani. They lie in Court, they tell off the magistrates, they essentially bullshit their way through, personalise matters. When they mention judges in their verbal submissions they simply take their names rather than saying Honourable. All of this is happening because of Temo. He has their backs.
While some of us have to adhere to all standards and get told off by magistrates at a drop of a hat or even will be reported to LPU. Temo has given specific directives to those on the judiciary especially in relation to JVB and ASK and those who are seen to be linked to them. Some of us lawyers and journalists are actually disgusted by what is happening in these court apperances. The other day laisani who pryde had fired and is back courtesy of Nancy and Rabuku, started a personal attack on Devenesh Sharma. The Magistrates don’t pull these people up on their unruly and unprofessional behaviour. We heard that in Nadi some weeks ago laisani attacked personally the Australian barrister, appearing for Fiji Airways. Why do they do this because they have become thugs like daddy thug Temo.
Also amazing to see how people like magistrate yogesh prasad and judge Daniel Goundar just to keep their jobs or fear of falling out of favour with Temo, masi polo Temo in such an embarrassing manner. Rather disgusting. For us lawyers these people are not fillowing the standards of law we expect. They are following their daddy temo, who also does not follow established precedent. All of these people are shameful. They have no dignity and frankly people laugh at them behind their backs. Unfortuantely though because of this corruption, big fish like Temo will screw our country and make it a laughing stock. People like Richard, I love myself naidu, won’t blink an eye lid because it serves their purpose. So much for portraying themselves as upholders of rule of law. Btw his law firm Munro Leys now does all the legal work for almost all of the big government owned or related organisations. No tenders. And boy do they charge like, as they say in Fiji, nobody’s business.
The NZ High commissioner has been the hand behind many of these maneuvering. She has gone all tropical. She is the one bringing in all these kiwi judges who are changing our jurisprudence and contradicting themselves. She has cocktails at her residence and calls all of the above to influence and boy do they sing from the same songsheet.Why do you think some of these decisions are being made.
Anyway Temo should go, Pryde should be brought back, Aslam the former ficac head should be brought back and one of the sitting judges who was not appointed during this government and who actually believes in the real independence of the judiciary and wont act like a thug and leave the magistrates and judges alone should be made the cj.
Ashton-Lewis would make a good acting CJ. He already knows exactly what needs doing.