Sharvada Sharma waited more than two years for justice after he was unlawfully sacked as solicitor general by the Bainimarama government and finally got it last month when the High Court ruled in his favour and awarded him $3-million in compensation.
Now the Coalition government – which had expressed its support for Sharvada Sharma – doesn’t want to pay him the money.
The Attorney General, Siromi Turaga, questions whether the High Court had any legal justification to award Sharma anything. Seriously? This was a loyal civil servant with an unblemished record who was removed by the previous government in direct contravention of the 2013 Constitution.
For 26 months, he and his family have been through an unimaginable ordeal – thrown onto the street, stripped of his salary and entitlements, able to survive only on savings and dependent on the charity of Richard Naidu and Jon Apted at Munro Leys to pursue his case without being paid. In the end, Professor Pal Ahluwalia at USP recognised Sharvada Sharma’s skills and experience and hired him to teach law at the University.
It was always an open and shut case because the Constitution is explicit that the FijiFirst government should have convened a judicial tribunal to hear the complaint of misbehaviour against Sharvada Sharma, precisely the same provision that the Coalition is now defying in relation to the suspended DPP, Christopher Pryde, and the suspended Police Commissioner, Sitiveni Qiliho. Both governments are lawbreakers – yet another example of the more things have changed in Fiji, the more they stay the same.
To any reasonable person, $3-million in compensation doesn’t seem excessive for loss of income, backdated legal expenses and the pain and suffering this injustice has caused to Sharvada Sharma and his family. But Siromi Turaga and the rest of this miserable government want the Sharma family to suffer more.
Siromi Turaga says that Sharvada Sharma can’t be reinstated as solicitor general – which is what should have happened – because the job is already taken. Yes, you filled it, you miserable creep, knowing that it was just as likely that Sharma would obtain the ruling he has obtained. You knew this was coming. But you were determined to put your own man in the SG’s job in the form of Ropate Green Lomavatu.
You could at least have the decency, AG, to do what the Coalition promised and that was to right the wrong that was done to Sharvada Sharma. But now that he has won his case, that promise is being broken and you are inflicting even more suffering on him.
Would you be doing all this if Sharvada Sharma was iTaukei? Of course not. But because he is kai Idia, promises can be broken and injustices perpetuated in the hope that he gives up pursuing the money you owe him by order of the court and preferably leaves the country for good.
This government is racist to the core. And Biman Prasad – who was elected to keep the bastards honest and promised to support Sharvada Sharma to obtain justice – remains silent. The NFP leader and Deputy Prime Minister has betrayed Sharvada Sharma and betrayed the rest of us. And if the rumours of a snap election are true, non-iTaukei know what to do. Wipe out the NFP – the party of betrayers – who do not deserve the nation’s support.
Click here for the inside story of what happened to Sharvada Sharma at the hands of Frank Bainimarama and Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum. Grubsheet’s in-depth article from November 2021.
The SG lost Saneem’s case and they fired him. This AG lost Sharma’s case so he should similarly be shown the door. This AG is racist and incompetent to the core. Dont know who taught him law or how he became a magistrate. As for Biman and Charan Singh, its good bye. Biman will migrate to Australia where he has properties and Singh will go back to his business. The rest of us will be doomed.
Aiyaz had the measure of Biman from the start when he said the nutty professor did not possess the skill or the backbone to keep the nationalists at bay. We are now seeing that assessment play out in plain sight with very serious consequences for our country, although Biman’s family and friends are gaining handsomely from his cowardice.
Now that is journalism, it’s a pity you can’t always be the journalist that you obviously can be.
Give us a break from the Lynda and Aseri saga and deliver us the benefit of your talented writing as we all know you are capable of.
This is a much more worthy cause for you to get your teeth into.
Mike Towler, you aren’t perchance related to Lynda Tabuya or Aseri Radrodro by marriage or are part of their social circle?
Because only someone who was blind to reality would expect a journalist to ignore a drug-fuelled sex scandal with hard evidence of what happened in Room 233 and a couple who lied to the Prime Minister, who, in turn, lied to the nation.
To ignore that story – which much of the Fijian media has chosen to do – is a betrayal of journalistic ethics, which is to report without fear or favour.
The fact that Victor Lal and I are now being subjected to articles and letters in the Fiji media questioning our credibility merely serves to demonstrate the impact we have had. And the acute sensitivity of mainstream media outlets that they have been exposed as journalistically corrupt.
But thank you for your praise in relation to Grubsheet’s coverage of Sharvada Sharma.
Interesting you fought like hell to keep your factory workers at only $2.65 an hour
And you are on record saying Tabuya was irresponsible and should be sacked at the time. Interesting what has changed…
It’s all about your agenda and we can see right through this. You only care about your bottom line. And don’t compare Fiji to sweatshops in Asia. You should pay a fair rate.
The general rule of economics is that either the politicians get rich or the people. Unfortunately in Fiji it has always been the politicians and their families and friends.
I voted for coalition government thinking they will bring positive changes. PM Rabuka and DPM Biman have thoroughly disappointed the people.
Worse still the rise of racism in our people is driving so many away from this place just because in this government we either have enablers of racism or cowards who wont stand up for the people.
And worse still we have incompetent ministers bonking around, some enjoying holidays on tax payers money but PM has no courage to dish them the burnt pie they deserve.
We are on course for destruction of our skilled workforce, education, health and civil services in general because politicians cant seen to see past thier positions of power or the economics that will enrich themselves and thier families.
A red flag was raised as soon as tax holidays were dished out.
Tax holidays are a clear signal of corruption for any independent assessment whether it be transparency or other metric. I am unaware of the details in Fiji’s case but when I heard about it my heart sank as the message it sends to the world is one of corruption. It was certainly a notable development that created animated discussion and a lot of head shaking on this side of the Pacific.
They say the fish rots from the head.
Richard Naidu. From Hero to Zero.
We really miss RN’s regular pre-election critiques of the Fiji First Govt in the Saturday’s Fiji Times (his client). Wished he had continued post-election his advocacy of good governance with the Coalition.
Nothing screams “tin pot” country more than tax holidays for extractives.
Had always supported your views yet I found that you have recently looking for a smoking bomb everywhere and anywhere…Not everything is about racism. The wrong doings of the last government will be paid by this government ???? while they sit there replacing as of nothing happened.