It beggars belief that the Chief Justice, Salesi Temo, is still in place despite the devastating findings against him by the Ashton-Lewis Commission of Inquiry into the Malimali Affair. But community incredulity will soar to an entirely new level with the news that the CJ is getting a new SUV to carry him around in the splendour to which he thinks he is entitled – a vehicle fit for a president, no less.
The Coalition sinks to yet another new low with the following page 3 story in today’s Fiji Times. Because this just wouldn’t be happening if Biman Prasad as Finance Minister was doing his job properly and the Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, performed his constitutional duty to remove Salesi Temo for his scandalous conduct in the Malimali affair.
We keep thinking, Fiji, that it can’t get any madder down the rabbit hole with Siti and the gaggle of misfits we were stupid enough to vote into office two and a half years ago. Yet each week seems to bring a fresh hell.
For this news to emerge the day after Biman Prasad disclosed that Fiji is so hard up that the national deficit is going up in Friday’s budget, along with the debt-to-GDP ratio, is astonishing in itself. But the fact that Salesi Temo continues to occupy the position of Chief Justice is a national scandal of unprecedented gravity.
Here’s what the Ashton-Lewis Commission of inquiry has determined in relation to the CJ and his conduct in the Malimali affair that you still can’t read officially in Fiji because the government continues to suppress it. But it is sensational. Breathtaking.
The “Possible Offences” of Salesi Temo.
That anyone can still remain at the pinnacle of the judiciary after a judicial finding of that magnitude is a shocking indictment of standards under the Coalition government, which came to power promising to raise the standards of governance in Fiji yet has trashed all accepted norms.
It isn’t just the Ashton-Lewis findings that are deeply disturbing about the state of the rule of law in Fiji. Anyone who reads the COI Report can’t avoid reaching the conclusion that Salesi Temo isn’t just a rogue lawbreaker but supremely arrogant and just plain dumb.
The COI has concluded that he lied when he said he didn’t know that Barbara Malimali was the subject of an active FICAC investigation when the Judicial Services Commission, which Temo leads, appointed her to be FICAC Commissioner. Yes, Fiji, they knew that Malimali was under investigation for abuse of office at the Electoral Commission but installed her to actually lead the corruption watchdog.
But read the following exchanges in Chapter 5 of the COI Report in which the Chief Justice tries to palm off his gross negligence and it also provides us with an insight into his gross stupidity. Detailing his experience on the Bench, he says he was once a “punitive judge” when he clearly means a puisne judge or ordinary judge.
Talk about a slip of the tongue, of course. Frank Bainimarama will be in stitches.
Justice David Ashton Lewis finds that Salesi Temo was lying. He and a host of top officials knew Barbara Malimali was under investigation at FICAC but put her in to head the corruption watchdog anyway.
Unbelievably, Fiji, the Prime Minister and the President, Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu, are stalling in their response to the COI recommendation that they consider suspending Salesi Temo for misbehaviour and putting him before a panel of three judges to determine his guilt, as the constitution stipulates.
Rumour has it that the President doesn’t want to remove him because he is related to Temo by marriage and the Prime Minister doesn’t want to advise the President to “just do it” because he is his chief. Down this particular rabbit hole, the fortunes of the nation are dictated by indigenous custom, including the rule of law.
Yet there’s another reason that is just as sinister – that the Coalition is relying on the Chief Justice to deliver a verdict in its favour in the upcoming Supreme Court hearings on whether the 2013 Constitution can be altered or junked to pave the way for a return of the racially-weighted 1997 Constitution.
It’s the big “oi, look this way” diversion – the government and Salesi Temo hoping that what they think is public support for changing the Constitution, coupled with withholding the Ashton-Lewis findings, will persuade the Fijian people to forget all about the Chief Justice’s scandalous role in the Malimali affair.
With a chronically compliant mainstream media, it might have worked. But now they stupidly add insult to injury by giving Salesi Temo a new car. And not just any old car but a “presidential” SUV.
Yes, they are really that mad. But then we are all down the rabbit hole with Siti and his bunch of crazed, self serving freeloaders.
They spit in the faces of the more than 50 per cent of Fijians who live in poverty and expect them to applaud when a corrupt Chief Justice sails by in his new taxpayer-funded vehicle.
Yet the mere fact that today’s Fiji Times puts this story at the top of page 3 shows that even the patience of the Wesleyans at Butt Street is wearing then – Fred’s team at the FT, not the Methodists across the road.
One of those bunker bombs we’ve just seen in action in Iran is heading towards the rabbit hole in the form of the 2026 election. And the day of reckoning approaches.
NOTE TO READERS:
Our planned story on Mr Sweet’s political career turning sour has been held over. Grubsheet, the well know alcoholic, is in the mood to do Manoa Kamikamica slowly.
GD
This is what is happening in Fiji, quote “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely” – Lord Acton.
As an ex-military myself (air force), I hate to say this but it is time for Fiji’s military to intervene before the country rots any further.
Which Air Force were you in? Venezuela? Chile? Myanmar?
If you were truly ex military as you claim to be, then you know that true professional soldiers do not get involved in politics. They dont have the skills to resolve intractable political problems like we have in Fiji.
The problems in Fiji were created by politicians. They should sort out the mess they created, not leave it to someone else to come clean up their shit.
But the real problem in Fiji is that not only the politicians but also senior civil servants are dominated by ex-military personnel, who were all part of 1987. They are back. And they simply cannot “sort out the mess they created”, but are actually aggravating it, led by the man himself who together with his brigade cannot “come and clean up their shit”.
The problem is the Immunity Clause (Chap 10 of the 2013 Constitution). It was the politicians at the time who allowed that to pass.
Ultimately, the politicians must sort out the political problem. If you keep calling for the military to step in every time civil society can’t solve a problem, then you are perpetuating a vicious circle.
By the way, since 1987 there has been a generational change in the military and many of them don’t want to repeat the errors of their predecessors.
Fiji has become ungovernable as a result of competing power struggles since gaining independence. The ethno-nationalist iTaukeis have created this problem. They are inherently racist. Fiji was better off under the colonial administration when people of different ethnic backgrounds enjoyed better life styles and living conditions.
As for the role of the military in Fiji’s polity, they happen to be the guardian of good governance. The constitution says so. Only they can clean up this rotten and corrupt administration from drifting into further uncertainties, in my opinion.
I will not be surprised if all those named and shamed in the COI Report are rewarded in some way with promotions or postings in other high places.
This is Fiji, and Fijians are a special kind of stupid, from the President and the PM to members of the government and in the high offices of the civil service and the judiciary which is very clear.
And I mean Fijians of all ethnicities, including those in this forum.
Fiji is unique because this special type of stupid cannot be found anywhere else in the world.
GD
I know you are champion of democracy.
What I note from this forum and I hope I am wrong, that cronies of Khaiyum are now using your platform to flare up issues for their mileage.
The COI report is now with Police.
Criminal investigations is based on cogent evidence and the proving test in court is beyond reasonable doubt. The COI is based on balance of probability, a lower test than in criminal proceedings.
From the leaked reports, there appears to be lots of hearsay evidence which might not get admissible in court, unless police find further evidence in correlation to hearsay evidence.
Calling for military intervention is a treasonous act.
Khaiyum’s case is looming in court now and we all know where he can get with that COI as a coverup to save his ass from getting tried in court of law and we know to what extent he can go to.
I sincerely hope no one get into Khaiyum’s web of deceit again.
The long arm of law will get to everyone, no matter who you are. History have shown us in Fiji and lets learn from it. Patience and faith in the system, democratic values and principles should remain paramount in Fiji’s progress.
You are mistaken. The “long arm of the law” will not get to anyone when Salesi Temo’s goons – Nancy Tikoisuva and John Rabuku – control the prosecution service at the ODPP and have the power to throttle any police docket that lands on their desks.
They acknowledged at the COI hearings that they are “friends” of Barbara Malimali and have already demonstrated bias in her favour by stalling the process in her case.
They also owe their jobs to the Chief Justice and will doubtless do whatever he tells them. So the whole thing is a sham while these individuals remain in their positions.
As for Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, the notion that he has the ability to influence anything under the circumstances is risible. He no longer has control over anyone. And they are determined to put him behind bars. Ergo, the most likely outcome of the current proceedings against him is jail time for him and Mohammed Saneem.
For you to tell us to have patience and put our faith in the system is hopelessly naive. Look what has happened when we put our trust in the Ashton Lewis Report into what the Prime Minister himself described as the rotten circumstances of her appointment. We can’t even get to see it aside from leaks here and on Facebook and the Coalition shows no signs of acting on its recommendations.
The truth is that Biman Prasad, Manoa Kamikamica and a host of these characters are on the wrong side of the law yet it is Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum who is about to feel the heat. So your confidence in the system is wildly misplaced.
I am not in favour of a coup. But when the entire system is corrupted, I am beginning to think that this simply cannot go on for another 18 months. Because a coup is already taking place at State House with a President who won’t perform his constitutional duty to suspend the Chief Justice. And there’s a case to be made that the military has a duty under the constitution to remind these jokers of their duty to the rest of us.
With their naked capture of the state, our institutions of state are being trashed and democracy itself is threatened.
@Take a Break fits the definition of a Special Kind of Stupid
Oh yes, I cannot agree more – this is a prime example of a special kind of stupid on display here. One doesn’t have to look far to see it. The special kind of stupid will never understand why upholding the rule of law is so important/they don’t have that god given grey cells need for it.
In any other country, the Opposition armed with a report like the COI would have torn the government apart, and we would likely be facing snap elections by now. Unfortunately, the special kind of stupid will continue to display that special kind of stupidity. It feels like God has turned away from this nation due to all the atrocities committed against the Indians, making it seem like a cursed land forever.
GD,
I am baffled as to why devious Siti would instigate the COI and then have to dragged kicking and screaming to follow up on its recommendations.
Is it because it was only ever intended as something for him to have in his back pocket to use against his opponents in the future?
Akin to how the previous president was shunted aside.
Has he been hoisted on his own petard by the army commander demanding action on the report?
Was Siti trying a wile e coyote manoeuvre? I would be grateful for your insights please.
In any other jurisdiction, those named in the report would be stood down or resign immediately. In Fiji, they are waiting to absorb the content of the report for the past seven weeks. So are you suggesting this whole saga is because of Khaiyum and the previous government?
@Take a Break, you seem to think you are a champion of democracy and free speech and the process of the law. It is clear to me that you are a prejudiced imbecile. Now you know.
In the meantime all those named in the COI should be promoted while we all wait for the police investigation to be completed! That is the process which should really be followed in a now free Fiji, on iTaukei land.
Take a break, please take a break to read about this sad case from yesterday’s news.
“Mokani farmer, Waisea Naitini, who was found trespassing at Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka’s residence on Saturday, has pleaded guilty to one count of criminal trespass.
The 30 year old will be sentenced next Monday.
Naitini appeared before Magistrate Charles Ratakele this afternoon.”
Isa, poor Waisea offended and arrested on Sat, 21st Jun, pleaded guilty in Court on Mon, 23rd Jun, and to be sentenced a week later on Mon, 30th Jun.
Record efficiency by Commissioner Rusi and his boys and girls, ODPP’s Nancy, John and/or Laisani, Court staff (under CR Tomasi and CJ Temo). Sheer hard work over the weekend (even on Sun when they should have been in church)! Reminds us of the efficiency and speed at which some high flying Coalition supporters are recruited and appointed like Fiji’s Representative to the UN, while civil servants like Teachers act as HODs, Head Teachers, Principals etc. for ages.
In other words, Take a break, the short arm of the law is effectively at work with grassroot Taukei, unlike with those high flying ones within the Judiciary and Cabinet, many of whom are named (and shamed?) in the COI report.
And interesting, as Fred at Butt Street would say, that Waisea’s Mokani Village is just a stone’s throw from Manoa’s Dravo Village.
https://www.fijivillage.com/news/Man-pleads-guilty-to-trespassing-at-PMs-residence-rxf854/
Yes, in the accompanying photo, the poor man looks desperate. He says he was only going to ask the Prime Minister for help. God help the poor and desperate in our benighted Fiji. Because as the rich and connected live it up, who now speaks for them?
Who now speaks for the poor itaukei?
The chiefs. Jope. Take a break. The snake.
In fact, all the snake has to do is speak in itaukei in loud baritone, and the itaukei masses instantly bend the knee.
It appears there are significant perks attached to their positions — and troublingly, some may retain these benefits even after leaving office. I’ve raised this before and will ask again: does anyone know whether these politicians and senior civil servants are allowed to purchase or keep government vehicles for personal use? If so, this raises serious concerns about misuse of public assets and potential corruption within the current administration
Surely this answers the question of how any country that is stacked with its highest officials being related to each other can function in an impartial way and the answer is that it can’t.
It requires outside help in filling these positions, so that there is no interference in the decisions that are made and that all appointments are merit based and not just ‘jobs for the boys’.
This nepotism would not be allowed in New Zealand or Australia and it has to be stamped out here so that the country can rise up and operate like it should, with officials acting with honesty and integrity and not turning a blind eye to the corruption that is rampant at present.
This COI should have been the wake up call that was needed to flush out these self serving individuals and it still can be, but it will require action to carry out the recommendations and not just ‘kicking the can down the road’ until time passes and everyone forgets the gravity of what was uncovered and it all goes away.
If a country this size is spending huge amounts of money to find out who ” the crocodiles in the pond” are, it is all wasted if no action is taken when you find them.
Man up Mr PM, release the report and stand down all those mentioned in the findings, pending proper investigations.
SHOW SOME LEADERSHIP. THAT IS YOUR JOB.
Well Mr Davis, if you are in the mood to do “Mr Sweet” slowly then let it be known that in the physiological battle stakes, we the readers are stripped down and ready to go!
There’ll be drinks at the end of it, for sure. 😉
If the CJ has some dignity left in him then he should resign peacefully to his home in Lakeba island…he is implicated in the COI report and the recommendation is for the President to remove him aside…Isa o Viti!
It’s time to let a non-indigenous Fijian to take the prime minister position, maybe will do something better than what we are going through now…Fiji is the home to everyone…our indigenous Fijian ancestors allowed everyone who wants to stay after the end of BLACKBIRD SYSTEM IN 1904 and the indenture system 1909…
Let’s respect each other, be merciful to one another as our living God, Yahweh is the Merciful God, lets understand each other-be tolerant to each other and love one another as our God is the God of Love…Fiji the way the world should be, and we must serve HIM in Truth & Spirit..
Let us stay together in unity and do the right thing – the COI report has revealed that our current generation of leadership & supposed custodians of our judicial system and the LAWS of the LAND are not worth a cent, and they must retired peacefully and fight their cases in the courts of law…Isa o Viti…leaders of today are full of hypocrites…
God Bless My Fiji Islands
GD It is time to do a series revealing the dire strait of Fiji’s economy in black and white with an estimate of weeks to total bankruptcy. Broadcast how perks to the iTaukei precipitated it.
Will the last “vulagi” taxpayer leaving Fiji, please turn the lights out.
Plant your own slippery cannab…sorry, cabbage. Don’t go stealing things you can plant for your own use and sell the extras to buy noodles and madrai.
Why must we be expected to give the best of our harvest to church talatala while our people starve?
We need to change our culture of dependence and thieving. Check what’s going on in our area Field 40, Lautoka.
Nightmare, both day and night all while Tudravu twiddles his thumbs talking tough. In Suva and his colleagues in Lautoka police laugh at crime victims.
Yes. All poor Waisea was after was a few leaves of the PMs bele plants (slippery cabbage) which grows profusely around the PMs compound. The PM has a blood relationship to Dravo and Mokani.
Temo is handling Aiyaz and Saneem’s Trial.
Everyone on easy street can sleep easy. COI and other instruments of fakery is the means towards an ethnocracy for Fiji. It will save taukei for eternity and save them from the bad ass evil heathens from everywhere else.
My question is if Barbara and Lynda were stood down, why can’t the PM do the same to the ugly bunch of men implicated in the report. And the ladies still do not understand that they were used and thrown aside by these same bunch. Nancy and Rabuku better be aware. Your turn will be coming soon. You are all being used.
How can Temo have no conscience at all! Or does he fear that more will come out if he was to be investigated?
Don’t hold your breath peeps, nothing’s going to happen as Temo is also related to SLR through his own aunt (SLR’s wife).
CJ wants a new vehicle but can’t sort out issues with Pryde. Could it be a sign of not being competent enough to make a decision? Thus the unnecessary delays?
Someone ask Temo’s first wife what kinda person Temo really is. Not that it is already very clear.