The fact that cocaine can disappear from the High Court during criminal proceedings is bad enough. But the response to this travesty by the Chief Justice, Salesi Temo, can only compound public alarm about the state of the judiciary under his leadership.
Angry and humiliated by an astonishing breach of security on his watch, Temo has lashed out with an equally astonishing outburst that he wants to see whoever was responsible for stealing the drugs jailed.
Not to be properly investigated, charged, put before a court and then sentenced – which is the obvious course of action and what we would normally expect from a chief justice – but ” I want them in jail”. Yes, straight to jail and never mind the rest of it.
With this intemperate outburst – the latest of many over his career as a judge – Salesi Temo has again demonstrated his total unfitness to head the judiciary. He was a street thug when he was young and roaming Raiwaqa with his friend and now relative by marriage – the President, Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu – and he is behaving like a street thug now.
And all this on top of the Ashton-Lewis Commission of Inquiry’s finding that Temo may have committed perjury and obstructed and perverted the course of justice when he sent a message to the former deputy FICAC Commissioner, Francis Puleiwai, telling her that no charge she laid would be heard by any court in Fiji.
That finding – along with the entire CoI Report – may have been “quashed” in astonishing circumstances by the High Court judge and Temo appointee – Justice Dane Tuiqereqere – but is to be appealed. So it is, in fact, not quashed until the appellate process takes its course.
Salesi Temo says laughably that there are “bad apples in the judiciary”. Yes, him.
- He was totally unfit to be Chief Justice in the first place. The President of the Fiji Law Society, Wylie Clarke complained to the Prime Minister about the then acting CJ, Temo, and was assured that he would not be confirmed in the position.
- Yet evidently behind the Prime Minister’s back and in contravention of the Constitution, Temo’s old Raiwaqa mate and Rabuka’s chief, Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu, confirmed him in the job anyway in one of the most appalling abuses of power in Fijian history.
- It is a permanent stain on this government that Salesi Temo can still be presiding as Chief Justice given the corrupt circumstances of his appointment and the grave findings against him by a Supreme Court Commission of Inquiry. By rights, he should have been suspended for misbehaviour and put before a tribunal of three judges, as the Constitution stipulates.
- Yet having survived, Temo is now in “kick the cat” mode over the theft of the missing cocaine from the High Court. He has blamed the ODPP for not having taken steps to destroy it. We also now know that the theft happened months ago yet incredibly has only just come to light.
- The line responsibility for this debacle actually rests with the Chief Registrar, Tomasi Bainivalu, who was also accused of perverting the course of justice by the CoI. It is he who has carriage of administrative matters relating to the High Court and should have secured the drugs.
Yet the ultimate responsibility rests with the Chief Justice himself. And rather than crudely threatening jail time for whoever stole the cocaine, what we should have got was a sober assurance that the theft would be properly investigated plus a mea culpa and public apology on behalf of the entire system for an unforgivable breach of security.
Instead the Chief Justice characteristically lashed out, blaming everyone else but himself. And behaving once again like the thug he is.
The man himself is a disgrace yet even more disgraceful has been the conduct of those who put him there – the convicted treasonist and accused paedophile who disgraces the office of Head of State and the Prime Minister who is now compounding his gross negligence in allowing all this to happen by trying to cling to office and put off his February rendezvous with the electorate .
Together, these three are directly responsible for the corruption of Fiji’s most important institutions. And the sooner they are gone, the better off the nation will be.
COMING SOON:
Pressure builds on the Prime Minister over his plan for a new Constitution by Christmas that would also keep him in office until a new electoral system is in place.
If you can’t find the person who killed a man whilst in the custody of the army, you’ve got no chance of finding who sneaked into a room and stole drugs.
One would assume that there would be a chain of custody, a record of key holders and a swag of cameras and recorders in, and around the room where the items were held. Anything less would have to be unacceptable.
Yet another case of ‘only in Fiji’
Nothing to see here, folks!!!
Not quite, USA Inc. also has it share of Veli, Epstein got a particularly nasty one, or it seems.
The Epstein Regime seems to have had a worldwide extent.
Not only in Fiji.
Be afraid Fiji…be very afraid. The most senior judicial officer has threatened his swift justice. He don’t need nothing else. Just pray you don’t come in his sights.
Isn’t it unethical and even breach of judicial process and probable insult to the bench for esteemed Judges to publicly pre-empt a case? In this case, even before an alleged person charged for whatever crime it would be.
Should the CJ be reported to FICAC by a fellow Judge or member of the public for probable alleged “abuse of office”? The defense team of whoever gonna be charged may file for a “ recusal application” of some form.
In our case the CJ seats at 2 very important levels of our judiciary. Uncle google spits out these two Australian cases. Antoun v The Queen, Courtney v The State of Western Australia. May be poles apart but…but… …….uh…..just our layman Saturday lazy thought. May we ask,why did the CJ shout out like that?…oh well, he is smarter than most of us, I guess?
Rabuku has a lot of things to say. Nothing this time when his office didn’t do what was needed.
and perhaps even a slight slip of the tongue … did he give it away when quoted as saying
” him/he” in reference to the culprit…..How does “he” know that its not a “she”….?? cough cough..