As if it isn’t enough to have an Acting Chief Justice who is an outlaw – with his multiple violations of the Constitution and the chaos it is causing in the criminal justice system. Salesi Temo is now exposed as having misled the nation.
In a published statement on July 25 in response to the furore over his decision – as head of the Judicial Services Commission – to suspend the salary of the DPP, Christopher Pryde, Justice Temo announced that the long awaited Tribunal hearing into the allegations of misbehaviour against Pryde would be held from August 19 to August 30.
Here’s the relevant extract – the full statement below:
That announcement – and the disclosure by the Acting Chief Justice of fresh allegations against Christopher Pryde of receiving unauthorised superannuation payments, something the suspended DPP strongly denies – put an end to the intense media coverage over the 16 month delay (at that stage) in naming a Tribunal hearing date to hear the Pryde case. OK, we were all told, it is happening on August 19, next Monday. Wrong.
We now know from Christopher Pryde through the national media that he has been informed that the hearing date from August 19 to August 30 has been vacated. And the suspended DPP also tells us that he has been informed by the Tribunal judges that they have yet to receive the disclosures in the case relating to the superannuation allegations. In other words, the case against him has not been finalised even though it is approaching 17 months since he was suspended.
In the meantime, Grubsheet has been receiving information that unnamed investigators have been conducting interviews in the offices of state trying to get further evidence against Christopher Pryde. For a whole year, the only allegation against him was that he was photographed in conversation with the ousted attorney general, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, at a Japanese Embassy function in February 2023.
Then out of the blue came a further allegation of unauthorised superannuation payments going back to 2012 during the period of the FijiFirst government. Christopher Pryde claims these were authorised and had been subjected to regular audits by the Ministry of Finance and the Auditor General. Yet in his statement on July 25, the Acting Chief Justice blatantly prejudiced Pryde’s case by outlining the superannuation allegation and saying it was the reason his salary has been suspended. He prejudged the Tribunal’s findings, portraying the $288,999.13 in allegedly unauthorised payments as fact.
But why did he mislead the nation by announcing that a Tribunal hearing would finally begin next Monday? Clearly the State wasn’t ready to proceed with its case or Christopher Pryde and his lawyer, Adish Narayan, would have received all of the charges against him and been given time to prepare his defence. Well here’s the incredible explanation, Fiji.
The Acting Chief Justice didn’t have the authority to say anything. It was up to the three High Court judges sitting as the Tribunal ( Justice Anare Tuilevuka, Justice Samuela Qica and Justice Chaitanya Lakshman ) to decide any hearing date. And it very much appears that they were simply railroaded by Salesi Temo into having to accept the August 19-30 schedule because it suited his purposes to get the media off his back. To repeat: All of the evidence in the case had yet to be received when the Acting Chief Justice made his announcement. And it still hasn’t been received.
It simply beggars belief that the judge at the pinnacle of the judicial system can have acted with such recklessness for due process and confidence in the rule of law. CFL Fiji Village reports that Salesi Temo is refusing to comment on the news that the case against Pryde isn’t proceeding after all. But he has some serious questions to answer about the entire episode. Er, let’s call it what it really is – a farce.
Christopher Pryde was seen with Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum in February 2023. He was suspended in April 2023. The Constitution specifies that a Tribunal of three judges must hear any allegation of misbehaviour against a DPP as a senior officer of state. It took ten months for Salesi Temo to convene that Tribunal last February. It took another six months for Temo to unilaterally announce a hearing date that we now know isn’t going to happen. And we are now close to 17 months since Christopher Pryde was suspended and there is still no hearing date and no sign when the case against him will be determined. Let’s call all this for what it is – a disgrace.
The Acting Chief Justice has wilfully misled the nation by pre-empting the Tribunal judges and announcing hearing dates that simply weren’t feasible because the State can’t get its act together and finalise the charges. After 17 months! Just as grave, Salesi Temo has severely compromised and embarrassed H.E the President, Ratu Wiliame Katonivere, who announced a deadline of September 23 for the entire case to be wrapped up and for him to receive the Tribunal’s report and decide Christopher Pryde’s fate.
There is no way that can now happen because time has run out to hear the case and for the Tribunal judges to have the proper opportunity to deliberate. So now the President is going to have to issue another edict setting a fresh deadline for the case to be concluded. Don’t hold your breath for that, Fiji, because it is anyone’s guess how long this whole process is now going to take. As I say, a farce.
Salesi Temo has again demonstrated his unfitness to be Acting Chief Justice. In this case, he violated the Constitution by delaying the announcement of a Tribunal for ten months after Christopher Pryde was suspended. He has denied the suspended DPP natural justice by prejudging the issue of the allegedly unauthorised superannuation payments amid reports that the state has been scrambling to find new evidence against him. And he has denied Pryde natural justice by summarily cutting off his income and depriving him of the means to adequately defend himself at a hearing that still hasn’t been set almost 17 months after he was suspended.
And all this on top of Salesi Temo appointing John Rabuku as Acting DPP in violation of the Constitution, delaying his removal when three Supreme Court judges said it was unlawful and now allowing Rabuku to return to the ODPP as Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions when Rabuku remains patently unfit to hold the position because he has been found guilty of professional misconduct by the Independent Legal Services Commission.
And then there is Salesi Temo’s other “howlers” – his unlawful threat to refer the Resident Magistrate, Seini Puamau, to the police for not doing what he told her to do and convict Frank Bainimarama and Sitiveni Qiliho ( another violation of the Constitution). Plus the multiple complaints against him for his conduct over the years to the Judicial Services Commission, including his outrageous statements suggesting that women have invited rape by their dress and demeanour. The man is an ass – an outlaw and now a liar. And in the interests of public confidence in the judicial system, he must be removed.
It is not in contempt of the judiciary to single out the conduct of a rogue judge. As Grubsheet has repeatedly stated, we have some very fine judges in Fiji and we can have confidence that justice is otherwise being dispensed in the proper manner. So why was Salesi Temo chosen by the Coalition to be Acting Chief Justice in the first place? The only plausible explanation is because he is iTaukei. Because as far as Grubsheet can see, virtually no-one of any stature in the senior echelons of the legal profession thinks he is suitable to hold the position.
Indeed, the Fiji Law Society – which represents the nation’s lawyers in private practice – has already extracted an undertaking from the Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, that Justice Temo will not be confirmed in the substantive position of Chief Justice. Thank God for that. But even if he is merely keeping the seat warm until a more suitable choice is made, the nation is paying a terrible price.
And what of the supposed “new broom”, the Attorney General, Graham Leung, who came into office replacing the woeful Siromi Turaga promising to make adherence to the law his top priority? There are persistent reports that it was Leung who played a hand in suspending Christopher Pryde’s salary in contravention of the Constitution. And if these reports are true, the supposed new broom is just like the old broom – interpreting the law as it suits him.
It is now also five weeks since the Prime Minister said publicly that the suspended DPP was entitled to be paid. So much for that. But is this all some kind of twisted pantomime? Of people saying one thing and doing another to achieve a collective political objective that is increasingly sinister ? To remove officers of state, unlawfully or otherwise, and install their own people in those positions as part of an overall plan to achieve indigenous supremacy and smash the existing legal framework?
It sure looks that way.
More on Salesi Temo to come.
The Acting CJ’s July 25 statement:
Christmas is only 4 months away. Santa Claus should prepare himself to sit under a tree at Sukuna Park and take photo with little kids. Because he is good for nothing else as is widely accepted.
Don’t think I’d want my children to sit on this Santa’s lap!
I have cancelled our trip to Fiji coming December. This place is unsettling and unsafe. From Police to tourism to assault on women to drugs. Then there is the judiciary. There is no faith in anyone keeping any tourist safe.
People wanting to work in Fiji from abroad must take heed. This is the lawless land right now. There is no hope.
Btw, we are using half the airfares and accommodation by going to Bali instead now. Fiji is an overpriced tourist destination.
Please don’t go!!!
The country keeps hitting a new low everyday.
Where are all the ones who wanted THE CHANGE?
Haha, they were the first ones on a one way ticket out of the country never to be seen again.
See here is the thing GD, everyone should accept the fact that for as long as the current ethno nationalist government is power, the ordinary Itaukei will turn a blind eye to any wrongdoings done as long as the perpetrator is an Itaukei.
As long as you are an itaukei, anything you do is forgiven and accepted.
Spot on Randy and we all should be aware of this.
Basically, another word for this attitute and arrogance is racism.
They are racist Christians who go to church, keep their “traditions” are unique in the world. They do not want any vulagi things in their lives except for the vulagi religion and vulagi God just because it is convenient. In fact it is all fake and pretend – all the faith bullshit.
They are now not sure whether they are Christians or Israelites. They are being given conflicting messages from the TV Evangelists in Fiji who are forever on Fiji TV shouting their endless rubbish, in the iTaukei language….. Hallelujah! They practice Christianity correctly and the right way unlike the rest of the world. Just ask them!
At the moment the Indians are responsible for their predicament. When the Indians are all gone, they will find someone else to blame. Because one thing is for sure, none of this is their fault.
Does not mean that the sky is blue that it is the ocean…Stop this stereotype…it is not healthy
Do you even know what you talking about? It is not stereotype. It is fact. The arrogance and the racism is fact. You know it.
Blaming the Indians is fact. Not sure whether you are Christians or Israelite is fact.
Why would you fly an Israeli flag for political gain in Fiji?
Vulagi religion and vulagi God is fact.
When you live in a glass house, please don’t throw stones…
Prove it. ‘Not my fault’ is not wrong in his/her assertions. You need to present a coherent counter view point to refute how the natives are actually seen by the rest of the world.
The world has caught up with the bula bula bullshit. Too many tourists are robbed and/or raped. Foreign missions are cautioning citizens to be extra vigilant when visiting. Nature parks and remote areas are off limits lest you get robbed and raped and left for dead. All as the government beg and borrow and talk gibberish.
Fijian press/media is dead. The courts are compromised. The police useless and clueless. Drugs and violent crime, sexual abuse against women and children are all rampant. All, yes, all government law enforcement and courts are led by the itaukei.
99% of crimes are committed by itaukei. Have you seen Suva city thugs recently? They move with immunity harassing and robbing visitors and locals. All itaukei. Children loitering and menacing neighborhoods late into the night. All itaukei.
Pray your car won’t stall/stop when traveling by car in the Suva/Nausori corridor —‘helpers’ appear out of the shadow of darkness to rob visitors and local vulagi alike. All perpetrators are the bula bula BS itaukei.
Spare us your fake sarcasm ‘please don’t go.’ Ours is a LIVED experience of constant vigilance and restrictive life styles in the land of our birth. For five generations and counting.
Such is the case everywhere. As soon as it turns dark, you see all these itaukei kids coming out and loitering in town and city centre’s.
Re establishing the GCC has done f all for the empowerment of ordinary Fijians. It’s only for the Elitist.
Now they want to ammend the Constitution that to them disadvantaged the Itaukei. Itaukei to get their fair share of the use of resources in essence means they are greedy for a bigger share of the tourism pie.
And with the lease money distribution back to the old system, guess who gets the bigger share of the pie!
Too many tourists are robbed and/or raped. …Last time I checked “…a 26-year-old Japanese female tourist was raped by an Indian national at a homestay in Nadi, Fiji. The incident occurred in late April while the tourist stayed at the property”.
Even if you go to India, you may be exposed to being “…groped by five or six men who will forcefully smear…your face with colours while screaming “happy Holi”. or if you go to the US, you can be the victim, like a classmate who was invited to join a group of males ranging in ages from 15 to late 40s, who were drinking alcohol in a dark courtyard on campus”.
In Sydney, Australia, they are also there like a 16-year-old girl who was was brought to Gosling Park, Greenacre by 17-year-old Mohammed Skaf, who she believed was her friend. At the park she was raped by Mohammed’s brother Bilal Skaf and one other man, with twelve other men present who she said were “standing around, laughing and talking in their own language”.
I can select some more from around the world to show you that what is happening in Fiji s not due to bula bula bullshit or All itaukei…so please do not over sensationalise the Fiji scenario so that people can feel for you…if you want to go…go but don’t rubbish a country and people that had accommodated you for five generations and counting…because Fiji is not just a country to us … it is our everything and we can never give it up…
I am not sure whether everyone realises, but the Acting CJ himself and the government are certainly aware, this man is setting very high standards in the judiciary. Just ask him and the government. Vili will also confirm – just ask him too.
Standards have never been higher in the Fiji judiciary like they have been in the last 20 months or so. The iTaukei know best and they do things the right way and the rest of the vulagi world should learn from them. That is unquestionable!
So much is happening during this 10-day spell, all being remotely controlled from the prestigious Beijing hotel room 233. By hook or by crook, the Taukei cabal’s aim is to have the DPP dressed in orange.
Rule of law is vital for businesses to grow. However, the cabal says “Rubbish” in response to the ANZ Bank Senior Economist’s age-old but downtrodden principle, “Private sector investment key driver”, as noted in today’s Fiji Times front page. Manoa preaches it always.
The A/CJ by his actions to date has established that he is both incompetent and racist.
The analogy of Santa Claus and him is an affront to Santa Claus.
The man in the red suit, giver of joy to people across the world is neither incompetent or racist.
The A/CJ administration of justice is now being tied to increases in crimes again minorities and tourists and this will see the fortunes of Fiji fall.
Where is Rambo and his Government on this? No where to be found!
Where is Rambo? Out of the country yet again!
Lack of rule of law will affect tourism and everything else. It doesn’t make sense, how much money they keep pumping into promoting new travel markets around the globe to get that dollar but can’t give two cents to get competent police to protect visitors or locals. I’m very confused why there is not a budget or a plan to keep law and order. It’s not fair to promote this happiness bullshit and not protect people on the ground after they have landed.
When something happens to a tourist, the police literally don’t care and that could be an I-Taukei or Indo- Fijian police, they are lazy, untrained and don’t do anything. Imagine a police station and nobody is there, they don’t answer the phone if you call for help and they don’t have a vehicle to come out. It’s been said they are drinking kava or at home but are still getting paid.
Where are the vehicles? Why can’t they even get vehicles out to these police stations?!!
So when people say “don’t go.” the law and order affects everyone!! You should care more.
They must act now and get police force that can read and write because you cannot solve cases if you cannot read the statement given!
Please can anyone explain to me why they won’t train a police force to do their job or even take people from the military that know what they are doing. At least until they have trained a new force with people there committed to doing their job and protect people.
Something must be done now! There is no pride in what they do. Maybe they don’t get paid enough to care.
On this sunny morning in the beautiful Fiji Islands, what do we have to be positive about?
When you consider-
The Russia Ukraine War.
The United Kingdom, bastion of Democracy in turmoil.
The Israeli Palestine Crisis.
MPox.
Inflation.
F. wit Political leaders all over the world.
People all over the world in need…
Tough every where but we’re still lucky in Fiji.
It would be something if we paused and thought about just ONE thing to be positive about in Fiji.
I reckon the list would be fairly long and impressive.
Well how about listing them? Let’s hear it. Because a sunny morning doesn’t always means that all is well with the world.
How about an entitled, racist iTaukei coming out on a sunny morning and being arrogant. Now that would give one a nice feeling on a sunny Fiji morning!
How about crime up by 52%, drugs up by millions of %, domestic violence up, child abuse, HIV up by 1000%, robbery with violence. All of these would give one a nice feeling in peaceful sunny Fiji when they wake up each morning. Fijians are so lucky. Just ask the government and idiots like Gnat, they are doing a splendid job away from all the regions with conflict around the world. Fiji and Fijians are truly blessed under this government.
Gnat said “f/wit political leaders around the world”.
Unlike them Fiji has role model political leaders. I have always maintained, the Christians of Fiji are the best. They know more about everyting than any other practising Christian around the world. They know more in 150 years since the vukagi religion came to Fiji than those practising it for 2,024 years. Just ask Gnat or any iTaukei.