The newly described “citizen journalist/publisher”, Charlie Charters, expected a pleasant flight out of Fiji last night on FJ915 and to be tucked up in bed in Sydney after a few inflight drinks.
Instead he was detained at Nadi Airport, driven to Suva and spent the night at FICAC – the corruption watchdog whose legal powers extend not just to common-or-garden-variety corruption but alleged wrongdoing of any kind.
FICAC can detain a person it arrests for 48 hours without having to lay any charge against them. So Charlie faces another night in detention at FICAC Acting Commissioner Lavi Rokoika‘s house of pain – the Rev John Hunt House – before she is obliged to charge him and put him before a court of law.
We don’t yet know the precise details of Charlie’s offence. But would Lavi Rokoika be stupid enough to create a cause célèbre over his disclosures about the alleged conduct of her brother-in-law, Gilbert Vakalalabure, at the Sports Council? Or for asking why Lavi’s husband, Tevita Vakalalabure, has been seen in her office at FICAC and may have had access to confidential information?
Lavi Rokoika is already on the ropes as the Judicial Services Commission ponders whether to remove her after Justice Dane Tuiqereqere‘s ruling that her appointment by the Prime Minister was unlawful. Would she really want to stir the hornets nest that constitutes Charlie Charters’ social clique in Suva, which includes Richard Naidu and Wylie Clarke?
Naidu has immediately come to Charlie’s defence by using his influence with the Fiji Times to get a front page story in today’s Sunday Times questioning the legal basis of Charlie’s detention. And in a case of déjà vu all over again, Wylie Clarke – the President of the Fiji Law Society – retraced his steps to FICAC last night to come to Charlie’s assistance.
It wasn’t the posse that Wylie Clarke assembled last September 5 to descend on FICAC to free Barbara Malimali from arrest and intimidate the then acting acting FICAC deputy commissioner, Francis Puleiwai. Clarke arrived alone and was evidently given short shrift, judging by the brevity of his visit. Because for a start, he doesn’t appear to be Charlie’s lawyer. Seforan Fatiaki says he is.
We’re all waiting to find out the precise reason why the dual British-Fijian national is in hot water to the extent of being banned from leaving the country. Is it – as the mainstream media is speculating – because he refused to tell the FICAC arresting officers the name of the “whistleblower” who gave him information on the Sports Council and Lavi Rokoika’s ties to her husband and brother-in-law?
That story has sent the mainstream media into a frenzy as an assault on freedom of information and the protection of whistleblowers. If that is indeed the case, Grubsheet will join them and the likes of Victor Lal in standing shoulder-to -shoulder with Charlie Charters.
The public’s right to know is under constant assault in Fiji. And it is the height of hypocrisy for the Coalition government to be trumpeting a new era of media freedom when it is just as unaccountable as its predecessor, if not worse. As Grubsheet observed in our last piece, Frank Bainimarama and Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum at least went after their opponents. In this instance, the “New Order” is going after one of its most vocal supporters. Go figure.
Yet another possibility has emerged that has nothing to do with whistle-blowers or the Sports Council. And that is the attack Charlie Charters made last September on Justice David Ashton-Lewis, the Supreme Court judge who conducted the landmark Commission of Inquiry into the Malimali affair.
In a Facebook posting, Charlie described Justice Ashton-Lewis as a “conman and fantasist”. The problem is that a subsequent police investigation has cleared the Judge and the boot is now on the other foot. Because in attacking the Judge, Charlie Charters committed a criminal offence under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, which Grubsheet reported at the time in an article dated September 3, 2025, and with which Charlie took issue.
Here are the relevant exchanges. First the relevant extract from Charlie’s original Facebook posting:
Then what the law says:
And the subsequent exchanges between Grubsheet and Charlie Charters, when I wrote that he had left himself wide open to a two year jail sentence.
That’s where we left it. Yet five months later, the goose is still cooking. And Charlie is now the subject of a formal complaint to FICAC by a fellow whistleblower, the Sydney-based Alexandra Forwood, who has become the bane of existence of a great many people in Fiji and now Old Peculier himself.
As with all such complaints, FICAC has no choice but to investigate it. All of which means that Charlie Charters has been less than prudent in deciding to pay a visit to Fiji in the first place.
The ostensible reason for his trip was evidently to pick up a new Fiji passport. But this could have been obtained from a Fiji embassy or high commission anywhere. Which raises the following question:
Has Charlie – like the legendary Icarus* – flown too close to the sun? Did he think that his support for the “New Order” made him a protected species in Fiji? That he could willfully disregard the Commissions of Inquiry Act and remain unmolested because Justice Ashton Lewis also happens to be on the nose with members of his glee club such as Richard Naidu and Wylie Clarke?
We shall see.
Unfortunately for Charlie, he supported the Chief Justice, Salesi Temo, in lodging a police complaint against Justice Ashton-Lewis for allegedly making false claims about his qualifications when he was appointed to the Supreme Court. But after a police investigation, Grubsheet revealed nine days ago that no evidence was found to warrant charges being laid against the Judge. Ergo, he is not a conman. His integrity remains intact.
As a consequence, there is no question about Charlie’s exposure to charges of having described Ashton-Lewis as a “conman” and violated the Commissions of Inquiry Act. Nor about FICAC’s jurisdiction in the matter. Because here’s the evidence that it can lay charges against anybody in Fiji for anything whatsoever that constitutes an offence under any written law.
Yes anything. Including calling a judge a conman. Which is why Grubsheet will not be making the same mistake as Charlie Charters in returning to Fiji, especially when unlike him, I am a critic of the Coalition and among my many “sins”, have described the Chief Justice, Salesi Temo, as corrupt.
It’s a description that I would contend is demonstrably true, whereas Charlie’s description of Justice Ashton-Lewis isn’t true at all. Though I certainly don’t intend to saunter nonchalantly past the strumming minstrels in the Nadi Airport arrivals concourse – as Charlie foolishly did – to put it to the test.
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A selection of the latest media reports:
Images from last night’s drama:
Background articles on Charlie’s revelations about the Sports Council and Lavi Rokoika:
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Finally, not only has a police investigation cleared Justice David Ashton-Lewis of the allegation that Charlie Charters made against him of being a “conman”, here’s what the Prime Minister said about the claim of misrepresentation and the resulting furor. They were irrelevant.
Whoops. Leqa.
So what exactly is a “citizens journalist “? I heard this for the first time. Does this term also applies to the likes of Kishore Kumar sa malo, Feroz Ghulam Mohammed bhula binaka fiji and others who are officially not journalists but put a lot of effort into talking about things which the mainstream media usually hides.
I only heard of “citizens arrest” such as the thief that in Nabua who was apprehend by 20 or so big men and likelyto be escorted to Nabua Police Station.
Poor Charlie. Always assumed that his marriage into an iTaukei world and his association with the late Hot Bread queen would give him permanent immunity from anything and everything.
I recall people were extremely critical of the FFP government when it was alleged to be using FICAC as its personal Gestapo.
It’s definitely a dog eat dog world in Fiji.
What this Charters fellow does not realise is that this is Fiji. He has absolutely no idea how things work in Fiji even after having been married to a Fijian and having lived in Fiji for god knows how many decades.
He has no idea and never will. He is a vulagi who will never be able to understand the local culture and traditions. He can pretend all he wants.
I would like to know what he thinks about the incompetents who are in this government now.
Yes, indeed FICAC’s power is very broad but if they want whistle blowers name then it is clear that Charlie is being subjected to a personal attack by Lavi and FICAC won’t get public support. But if it is about Judge for COI being insulted by Charlie then FICAC is correct to question Charters.
Mainstream media is just creating propaganda to free Charters without waiting for the facts to be established. If the case relates to the COI then FICAC should prosecute Mai TV for false information as they reported that FICAC wanted to deal with Charlie to release the whistle blowers name.
Isa, during Pulewai it was a posse of ‘big swinging dicks’ (used colloquially in reference to the two ladies in the posse) full of bravado and arrogance when they swooped on Pulewai and ganged up on her. The suited-up Malimali ‘rescue team’ thought that they were heroes in a movie.
All that’s left is a lone and lonely prick Wiley Clarke, who, it seems, was immediately told to get lost.
This is all part of the ongoing corruption by an entitled group who thought they were untouchable but now getting their comeuppance.
Wiley and his buddy Richie Rich mobilizing to rescue Baiman and Manoa Kamikamica, their patrons, from COI. This saga is still being played out.
Part of the corruption was Fiji’s worst finance minister in history, Bastard Biman, appointing Richard ‘I have the means’ Naidu, the fiscal review committee chairman to facilitate vat increase to 15% to punish the poor and reward rich friends and clients, like Fiji Water and Tappoo.
Long loaf Charlie and Richie Rich were part of the group defending Baiman and Manoa Kamikamica who were both implicated in the COI, so both, fat Charlie and slimely bitch Richard made it a mission to discredit the judge and destroy the COI.
In the process Charlie has gotten burnt himself. As GD says he was flying too close to the sun. Basking in all the praise and adulation, he got careless.
Richard Naidu, whose firm was given the FNPF and Aspen legal contracts because of connections with Baiman, has to be the next crocodile to be drained. The current finance minister should immediately remove Naidu as fiscal review committee chairman. Naidu colluded with librarian Kirti Patel, another dubious appointment by Baiman, on vat and 7 year tax holiday to Fiji water.
We were told that the increase in vat would reduce debt but that too turned out to be a lie. They deceived the people of Fiji. And Bitch Richard has the nerve to moralize and question Long Loaf Charlie’s arrest when his own conduct is highly questionable, and it was their own actions that led to this point.
Well at least Charlie will be applauded by the Yorkshire men that he drinks with, if and when he gets back home, for not giving up the name of the whistle-blower.
He would have been hung out to dry by those guys if he had!
Friends or no friends.
Fijivillage reports that JSC is having emergency meeting today on Charlie Charters case. Why JSC wish to interfere into an active FICAC case, if that is what they wish to meet for? The best would be to let all play out in court on Monday.Hope this doesn’t become Part 2 Pulewai vs Malimali situation where Pulewai resigned. Is JSC meeting today to recommending to President to suspend Lavi on the basis of that whistleblower complaint?
Or is the JSC just meeting because of Kamikamica’s FB post today where he said JSC should “grow some nuts”?
Of course there is skullduggery. As I have said, the Chief Justice and the Chief Registrar who call the shots in the JSC are corrupt and should have been removed long ago.
Maybe Charlie is counting on the corrupt CJ and others to bail him or dismiss the case against him. It will be interesting to see how they go about dealing with one of their big supporters and all their corruption. Maybe Charlie will be a beneficiary of all the corruption in the judiciary at the moment. Maybe Charlie can then claim $2million as well. What a windfall!
The twists and turns in the legal apparatus of Fiji continue to amaze, startle, amuse and dismay the people of Fiji.
In doing so, it confirms the view held by a growing number that those in ‘control’ are beyond the law and operate like a separate State, answerable to no one.
As I have said previously the entire mess engulfing Fiji is the result of the actions or inactions of the PM and the President.
The former Government, blamed for everything since Rabuka came to power, no doubt will somehow be blamed for the Charlie Charters arrest!
If you’re going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair…
Unfortunately for Charlie, there were no nice gentle people wearing frangipani for his welcome at Nadi/Suva.
As a consolation, hope he gets the original genuine Fiji Hot Bread Kitchen cream bun for tea..since there is nowhere in the world like the authentic HBK cream bun and worth getting detained for…
Regardless of opinions about Charters, there are concerns about the integrity of the process. He has communicated through his lawyer that he was offered a “deal,” that no right thinking person could accept, and when he refused was arrested.
Too many deals behind closed doors and/or acts of intimidation under this Government.
Two or more persons are enabling/allowing the JSC to do as it pleases. Take a guess .
Sooo..some of us lay persons can’t understand, if probable legal reason to detain Mr. Charter’s at the Border are as succinctly explored above are credible, then why are some of our legal gurus publicly advocating FICAC’s actions to detain and sleep over at Rev John Hunt House while listening to Sunday service hymns next door is wrong, bad law, inhuman etc? But…but…may be good private moment for Mr. Charters to help him draw closer to his maker should he chooses and charter the future. We pray justice to prevail, either way…uh…soon!
This country is out of control. Those in power do what they like, when they like and there is no accountability from anyone.
This couldn’t happen in other countries, it wouldn’t be accepted or allowed, but here it’s just par for the course.
Unbelievable!!!!!
Meanwhile, a so called independent and fair journalist Lice Mavono sees it appropriate to state “cancer surviror and heart patient” when coming to the defence of Charlie. WTF??!!!
What has his health conditions got to do with FICAC arresting and detaining Charlie? I didn’t realise that medical conditions could be a ground for reconsideration of any charges or detention -as per Lice apparently.
Where the hell was Lice when Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum was arrested and put into custody; and Bainimarama imprisoned. Don’t these 2 also have pre-existing health conditions?
We didn’t hear Lice blow her trumpet when former AG was refused medical treatment overseas.
Lice can claim to be an independent journalist all she wants. Working for the ABC doesn’t mean that she brings in international standards and expected levels of conduct.
This ABC journalist who is selective on what she reports and roots for is no different from the ass licking local backyard pigs like Vijay Narayan, Stanley Simpson, Fred Wesley, and the other clowns in the news reporting business.
Lice is a bush lawyer who we have long suspected to be a DEI appointee at Aunty (The ABC).
Her mediocre journalistic skills have been in the public domain for a while now.
Lice could not spell “law” if it were written in front of her.
At the rate things are going the reviled NZ-based pussy grabber might think twice about traveling to fked-up Fisi.