# CHAPTER FIVE OF THE COI REPORT. JUSTICE ASHTON-LEWIS DETAILS THE EXTRAORDINARY INSIDE STORY OF BARBARA MALIMALI’S APPOINTMENT TO FICAC.

One thing will be obvious to any Grubsheet reader taking the time to read the full Commission of Inquiry Report into the “rotten” circumstances of Barbara Malimali‘s appointment as FICAC Commissioner – the impressive ability of the Judge, Justice David Ashton-Lewis, to cut through the static and get to the core of this saga.

Justice Ashton-Lewis cuts an odd figure to some Fijian eyes – his dapper pin-striped suits and fob watch placing him somewhere in the last century, not this one, along with his precise, refined speaking style and eccentric turns of phrase.

Some people were tempted to write him off after his recent radio interview in Queensland, in which he was wildly indiscreet as judges go. But the Report that the Judge and his Counsel Assisting, Janet Mason, have produced in record time is polished and razor sharp – the lies and obfuscation of successive witnesses stripped away in devastating fashion.

Certainly, their command of language is at a level that was once the norm among judicial officers in Fiji but has been sadly lost over the years as standards of literacy deteriorate, even at the very top. And to have produced work of this standard in the limited time available makes the COI Report a genuine tour de force.

As the leaked document gains a growing audience in Fiji, many of those at the receiving end of the Judge’s pronouncements will be stunned, gutted and seething with rage. Yet those of us who wanted the truth and who feared a whitewash have been genuinely impressed by his ability to cut through the bullshit, though whether it makes any difference remains to be seen.

The Vice Chancellor of the University of Fiji, Shaista Shameem, spoke for many this week when she expressed shock at the extent of the alleged wrongdoing the Judge has exposed. Certainly any notion that he is a dilettante or fuddy-duddy has given way to genuine respect.

This is an explosive document arguably unparalleled in Fijian judicial history – an investigation by a Supreme Court judge that has stripped away the pretence of good governance on the part of the Coalition government. It exposes the cynicism, hypocrisy and lies of a great many people we were entitled to trust but who have betrayed that trust and whose conduct fails to meet even the most basic standards of transparency and accountability.

The Report itself uses the term “sunlight is the best disinfectant” to describe its work. In other words, shining a light on wrongdoing is the best way to cleanse it. So read on for the latest installment of the Judge’s master class in holding the truth to power – Chapter Five of Eight – as David Ashton-Lewis takes a blow-torch to Barbara Malimali’s appointment to FICAC .

When Grubsheet called him the Obi-Wan Kenobi of Fiji – our only hope – even the Judge himself expressed bemusement. But to a large extent, it is true.

NOTE TO READERS:

My apologies if there is the odd stray page but they are in the sequence that was leaked to me. It has been an onerous task uploading each page manually but in the absence of the Report being officially released, I think it has been worth it.

As I said at the outset, I believe it is important that the Fijian people have the opportunity to read the Report in full. I have made this my immediate priority and there’ll be comprehensive analysis to come.

Coming soon, Chapter 6.