Reports from Suva say that the People’s Alliance disciplinary committee investigating Lynda Tabuya has returned an adverse finding – concluding that she lied when she denied her drug-fuelled sexual encounter with fellow minister Aseri Radrodro during a parliamentary delegation visit to Melbourne last August.
The Committee reportedly says that it accepts that the sexual encounter took place, there is compelling evidence that the Minister for Women, Children and Social Protection used “weed” -marijuana – and that the allegations against her are substantially true.
In an explosive report, the Committee reportedly establishes that Lynda Tabuya misled the Prime Minister and he, in turn, misled the Fijian people when he made a public statement last September saying that Lynda Tabuya and Aseri Radrodro had assured him that widespread public rumours of an affair between the two were false and he had accepted their denials.
It is a devastating finding that effectively ends Lynda’s Tabuya’s political career. Grubsheet understands that the disciplinary committee finalised its report at the end of last week and it was considered at an all-day meeting yesterday ( Monday) of the PAP’s management. It is now reportedly up to the Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, to decide the Minister’s fate. But given the gravity of the disciplinary committee’s findings, the Prime Minister effectively has no choice but to remove Lynda Tabuya as Minister. Her position is untenable and the nature of the allegations against her are such that it is highly unlikely that she would be able to cling to a career in politics, no matter what party she turns to.
The reports reaching Grubsheet say there is speculation within the People’s Alliance that it is also no longer an option for the Prime Minister to merely stand Lynda Tabuya down and send her to the backbench, as has happened with SODELPA’S Aseri Radrodro. The fact that as Deputy Leader of the People’s Alliance, she stands accused of bringing the party into grave disrepute means – according to some – that she can no longer continue in any position. There are reportedly moves within the PAP to expel Lynda Tabuya from the PAP altogether, which would force her out of the parliament because her seat would immediately become vacant.
All eyes are now on the Prime Minister to see how he reacts to the disciplinary committee’s findings. The PAP General Secretary, Pita Waqatairewa, has said publicly that it is Sitiveni Rabuka’s decision what to do about Lynda Tabuya – effectively a “captain’s call” on her future and with it the credibility of the government. But according to sources in Suva, any move by the Prime Minister to protect her is bound to trigger a wider scandal with the potential to bring down both of them and inflict terminal electoral damage on the PAP and the Coalition.
It is understood that with parliament due to sit on Monday, March 11, after its formal opening by the H.E President, Ratu Wiliame Katonivere, yesterday (Monday), the FijiFirst opposition is planning a concerted attack on the credibility of the Coalition government over its handling of the Tabuya-Radrodro scandal. This reportedly includes an appeal to the President to intervene to force Lynda Tabuya from ministerial office and from the parliament for gross misconduct.
The decision by the PAP’s disciplinary committee strengthens the opposition’s case and this is now a full-blown threat to the Coalition’s political position across a broad front. So much so that even some of Lynda Tabuya’s supporters are reportedly conceding that the committee’s findings are a political death sentence. She cannot stay on in any capacity and the Prime Minister has no choice but to dismiss her as Minister and perhaps force her from the parliament altogether.
This is news that is breaking like a thunderclap over Fiji this morning. We await the official response to Grubsheet’s revelations. But we now know why the Prime Minister has looked so worried in his recent public appearances. With his government enveloped in scandal, Sitiveni Rabuka is under immense strain. Because saving Lynda Tabuya is no longer an option, whatever his private feelings about his star protégé. Make that “one time star protégé”. Because the Great Temptress is toast.
There are reports that Lynda Tabuya has left her family home and simultaneous reports that Sainiana Radrodro has left Aseri Radrodro and has reverted to using her maiden name. While these reports can’t immediately be confirmed, the fallout from a few ill-judged days in Melbourne hasn’t just been political but personal, involving not just the two lovers but a great many innocent people around them. That in itself is a tragedy, as well as a salutary lesson – some might say morality play – that when politicians succumb to such glaring errors of judgment, the consequences invariably catch up with them.
Lynda Tabuya will certainly be ruing her decision to lodge a formal complaint with Australia’s eSafety Commissioner about leaked “intimate images” of her published by Grubsheet. The tactic backfired when the eSafety Commissioner confirmed that the images of her were genuine, not fake as she had claimed to the Fijian media, and that Grubsheet’s offence was that we didn’t have her consent to publish them. It was a notable piece of hard evidence that gave the lie to Lynda Tabuya’s denials. Certainly referring Grubsheet to the Australian cyber protection authorities is something she will bitterly regret.
She may now also be in a great deal of trouble with the Fiji Police, having lodged a formal complaint against Grubsheet with the Police Commissioner, Juki Fong Chew. A significant amount of police time has been wasted. And there is now also bound to be a great deal of interest in the allegations of Lynda Tabuya’s drug use and how she came to have “weed” in Room 233 of the Windsor Hotel in Melbourne.
Nige Healey says
Just “wow”. Thank you Graham for continuing to highlight this case, despite the Fiji press being missing in action. Democracy requires transparency and a free press.
A New Tomorrow says
Kudos to the PAP disciplinary committee for treading the responsible path. Party leader Rabuka must act in the best interest of the nation, remove Lynda Tabuya forthwith from office and refer her alleged drug use to Police for proper investigation. The public is watching. Justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done.
Weed in room 233 says
I agree and how can they make arrests of children in possession with marijuana when our own Minister for Children was in possession of a ton of weed and on govt business, no less.
She should have been taken in for questioning but manages to get police to investigate others who are exposing the story! We want answers on this right now!
We demand an investigation to know if she brought it on the plane or got it in Melbourne. How can we be assured that other’s are not doing same? We want transparency in the papers and from the govt. Stop protecting criminals and protect our children’s future!
Bibbawarra. Boy says
Brutal!
Lasa i Tuba says
We’ve been scandalized and entertained with salacious details of this sordid affair. LT appears to crave celebrity so when she’s fired, she should star in her own Kardashian style reality show .
Thanks for nothing Lynda Kardashian.
Nick says
Credit goes to Fijileaks and Grubsheet for exposing this sex and drug fuelled scandal at room 233 as Fiji media is useless despite so called media freedom. There are some rules and process to follow once appointed as member of parliament and in this instance she is Minister for Women and Children overseeing the most vulnerable people in the society and she cannot continue in this position given her gross misconduct. To keep her in this position would be injustice to this nation and send wrong signals to women and children. Should be handed over to police to investigate drug use whilst on official trip. TUBA. LAKO TANI great temptress.
Anonymous says
Fiji Government is liable for LT’s conduct after failing to remove her knowing she was using drugs, unstable and reckless. She was and is a huge liability and she was not suspended even though we all saw the train wreck unfolding.
The child that she was supposed to protect was not shielded and should now sue Fiji government for gross negligence. Can someone represent that child so this kind of thing never happens again?
Can anyone explain the work requirements, do ministers work 9-5 or can fly off to Kadavu or New Zealand anytime they want? Who is booking her flights and paying for this? Investigate!
Golf Tango says
Screwing on taxpayers dime in a foreign hotel is a big no no. Lets see if Rabuka has the cojones to act in this matter. If he wont then he is just a pendejo like the rest of them.
Matilda says
Incredible! Thanks Grubsheet and FijiLeaks for lifting lid on this matter. Shows the power of holding accountability through your platforms.
Now it’s a wait and see if indeed the right measures are taken. We’re watching closely.
William+H says
What happens next will be most telling. The Minister MUST GO!!
Brutal Babylon Falls says
Vinaka for your service, PAP Subcommittee members. Thanks for not bowing down to pressure. You’ve done well!
Justice for the people of Fiji. We deserve better people in our parliament. Not criminals in disguise. The arrogance was particularly off-putting. Could have just humbled herself and resigned. End of story.
Justice for the women and their families in the US she and her husband scammed millions from under GoFig., left them hanging and absconded to Fiji. People knew, looked the other way. Covered up with an out of court settlement so they thought they could easily fool naive and gullible Fijians here. Wrong! Maybe a small % of us.
Justice for Graham for having his FB Page wiped off for telling the truth. I was an avid follower. He and Victor Lal stood up for the silent majority when the compromised Fijian media was frantically looking for their balls. Hope they find them soon, lol. Small ones, may be a challenge.
You failed us miserably, folks.
Shame on all of you.
PM, over to you. Your legacy hangs in the balance. Show us leadership!
We know you’ll do the right thing. There’s no other way. This issue has wasted enough time. Deal with it promptly and focus on the drug war, the extreme poverty situation and more important matters.
We’re watching.
NFP voter says
The big question however remains. Is the PM going to act swiftly and be a brutal weed killer Fijians want him to be or will he ignore it just as Lynda has been doing for the past several months and let dust cover it?
This is one of those moments that Fijians will get to put Frank Bainimarama and Sitiveni Rabuka side by side. We all know what Bainimarama would have done long ago. Let’s see if Rabuka is half the man Bainimarama is.
Just ridiculous says
I think, just like everyone and everything else in Fiji, the Minister and the PM should apologise and just move on. And then they can do it all over again. Be humble, apologise and repeat. Leave it all up to a vulagi God from Israel. It is He who decides things for the iTaukei. That is what the vulagi religion tells us doesn’t it? Who are we foreigners to say anything? The iTaukei will solve this problem their way with the help of the resident “Moses” and a vulagi God from Israel.
But it appears “Moses” can only and proudly solve old fashioned problems. HE does not have answers to modern problems.
Tinai says
Amen….
Quackjack says
Sad state of affairs – pun not intended. Ignorant, arrogant, bankrupt of morality, liars every one of them! SLR, once a pride filled prolific adulterer himself, hypocrite extraordinaire, a corrupt man in every sense and a racist bigot to boot now sits in judgement for the very same behavior he reveled in – having adulterous affairs. And then have the nerve to say, ‘don’t judge me only god can judge me.’ Too ignorant to realize the irony that no judgement is required – the record speaks for itself. Shame on them pretending to be devout ‘christians,’ when in fact they all have boulders on their shoulder, are free riders, false sense of entitlement, conmen (good-bye to $3m FJ Air), who then have the gall to think they are the ‘lost tribe.’ Kind of sort of right – lost, yes. Tribal, for sure! But no—not THE lost tribe! They don’t even realize that the orthodox people of the country they worship routinely intensely hate and spit on ‘Christians’!
Anonymous says
Where is our “free media” on this? Bunch of sycophants
Sad Observer Scared for Fiji says
This is positive news in the making. It is still worrying that the Coalition seem only to do the right thing when they’re dragged kicking & screaming & backed into a corner. They lack the wisdom & forethought to make considered decisions in the best interests of Fiji. All knee jerk, figure it out later stuff.
Ashamed says
LT is very calculating. By a week ago she had her lawyers lined up! Meetings happening in her office and enroute back from NZ she stopped at the offices of this reputable lawyer who’s represented her in the past in Nadi.
Word is she plans to file a stay order against any guilty verdict in court and challenge the evidence also claiming the Committee Members have been biased and compromised.
The extent this scandalous drug user will go to in her attempts to hold onto office is simply astonishing! Well PAP will definitely implode and probably well deserved ! Bunch of users who lie, cheat, scheme and plot.
Rabuka is not a leader! So why bother expecting anything from him!
Tinai says
Hard evidence could be the marijuana hair strand test too.
God Bless Fiji.
What a bloody disgrace
Not a fan says
Mr Rabuka
In todays morning news, you expressed serious shock and concern over 2 high school students in Lautoka and Nausori schools who were in possession of marijuana and cocaine. And in an appalling twist to all this, the news also reported that our youth are now resorting to taking the blood of their drugged out buddies and re injecting that same blood in anticipation of acquiring the same high. Lord have mercy and is no surprise as to why we have the surging cases of HIV in Fiji.
YET in all this, YOU purposely permit Lynda Tabuya to occupy a ministerial position presiding over women and children even after much public outcry where she abused and breached Government protocol and code of conduct with her indulgence in drugs, alcohol and sexual misconduct, extra martial affairs and the like.
Let me ask you Mr Rabuka, what precedence is she setting for the citizens, children and women of this country?
With Lyndas cheap example for someone who holds a high level position in Government this is just too sad. It’s infuriating and appalling.
In a spiritual sense, what’s on the top will eventually flow down hence can only be attributed to the widespread drug pandemic we see today especially in our young because this is what YOU are permitting in Government. The children see Lynda indulging with no harsh discipline whatever and that gives them the “green light ” to also indulge in.
You do the math Sir. Open your eyes and quit operating from emotion.
Remove her for her shameful and utterly disgusting code of conduct. She is NOT fit for Government.
Tinai says
Moce Lynda.
Anonymous says
Todays Fiji Times headlines
‘Drug Test spot check could be implemented in schools…”
May I humbly suggest it also be implemented in Government for all ministers starting with Lynda Tabuya please ?
Just ridiculous says
The Temptress has been removed as Deputy Leader of the party. It appears she will continue as minister and enjoy the perks. I told you that the resident “Moses” has all the answers and the wisdom. But he is not very decisive when it comes to making decisions in the mordern world. I say, just as others will, leave it to the vulagi God from Israel to do what is best!
Annoyed says
So Lynda Tabuya the minister for Porn, drug and substance abuse is removed as Deputy Party Leader for PAP but NOT stepped down from Government ??
How is that so ?
Deeply concerned says
Only in Fiji can a Minister be removed as a leader in a party but her position in Cabinet stays intact. This shows how inept the PM of Fiji is.
A slap on the faces of all women leaders by Fiji’s brutal porn and druggist Minister Tabuya. This is her legacy. This is the moral standards that she dictates that women live by.
GuyFawkes says
Lynda Tabuya removed
https://www.fijitimes.com.fj/tabuya-removed-as-pap-deputy-party-leader/
Fiji Sun Article at 12.30hrs today says
Minister for Women, Children, and Social Protection, Lynda Tabuya, has been removed of her position as one of the People’s Alliance Deputy party leaders.
This decision came after the party’s executive council, at its meeting yesterday, thoroughly discussed and considered the recommendation of the People’s Management Committee regarding the sex and drug scandal involving Ms Tabuya during an official trip to the Parliament of Victoria in Melbourne last year.
Party General Secretary, Usaia Waqatairewa said, that the People’s Executive Council particularly weighed the severe and likely irreparable damage and disrepute that the scandal and its surrounding allegations had brought to the Party’s image and reputation.
“The Executive Council therefore resolved, in the best interest of the Party, that Ms Tabuya be removed as Deputy Party Leader effective immediately, as of the time and date of its decision, yesterday,” Mr Waqatairewa said.
“Ms Tabuya was informed promptly yesterday evening via appropriate official Party communication of the Executive Council’s resolution.”
Sad Observer Scared for Fiji says
Ousted as Minister as reported by FBC, but details and position in party remains to be reported on.
Sevanaia says
I grew up under Rabuka…my parents supported him…until he sold them out…not surprised at all about his leadership or glaring lack thereof.
The thing is…Rabuka is a very savvy political operator who understands how to twist and manipulate the itaukei psyche.
In the rank and file the itaukei is largely ignorant of how the world works.They are easily manipulated through gossip and slander because they’re not very nice people to begin with.
You see this in the comments they leave when discoursing with other Fijians.
As an itaukei this makes me very sad for the general state of our consciousness as it were..and these are people who swear they are bible believing Christians…the ultimate irony.
This episode is going to go down as another mismanaged travesty of decency and justice in our collective history.
We need a whole bunch of our educated young unafilliated with any political party to contest new elections.
If you’re leaving Fiji..I wish you well…make a good living wherever you go..and come back when the ship is righted.
We are living in the death throes of the ethno nationalist rascist itaukei.After their generation passes…It will be okay…Those rural youth in the PALMS scheme are going to vindicate the poor legacy of misguided hate and imposed ignorance their parents lived and died under.
We’re a very young country in the grand scheme of things.And were no different than any colonized people…but we are different too.
We see each other,and we hear each other and we want the highest good for each other.
These itaukei leaders that have been foisted on us again.They don’t speak for all of us.We want a common identity and an equal citizenry and an end to all of the disingenious ways we knowingly and unknowingly betray one another in the public space through the use of stereotypical archetypes we’ve inherited in our respective cultural milleus.
Hold fast Fiji
A change gonna come.
Ordinary Joe says
@sevanaia thank you for your forth right opinion and courage to share with readers here. You must be a good honest person who cares about and desires diversity and inclusion. You seem to have faith things will get better. We can only hope the government thinks the same way.
Sad state of affairs.. says
Bula Sevanaia
I agree with you.
I can also say that level of cultural etiquette on how to respectfully discuss a topic is no longer a value that many Fijians hold. I am appalled at the level of swearing, vulgarity and overall calibre of leadership.
My hubby showed me some videos of Fijian children on Tik Tok and I was left speechless. The moral standards have deteriorated very fast. And we see the same kind of comments on Lynda’s social media pages.
The country has come to a halt. It is rather sad to even see people calling this woman Honourable. She is not. Not Naita, beautiful or whatever. Fijians need to wake up and stop acting like gullible fools. Fancy dresses doesn’t make a woman decent. Hope people get to see through her now.
Saddened says
PAP just failed the fit and proper person test to run the govt of this country.
Sick and tired of Radrodro and Tabuya BS says
SODELPA must do the right thing and remove Radrodro.
The PM must remove Tabuya.
They have to leave altogether.
We don’t need them.
Fijian tax payers are not paying for these two indecent humans in government.
End of story.
Get the country back into motion and do the work you lot are paid to do. F*cken tired of all your scandals here and there.
Remove Rodrodo and Tabuya says
Agreed!
Remove Rodrodo and Tabuya.
Investigate his alleged domestic violence and her possession and use of marijuana, PERIOD! We don’t care if the victim didn’t report him to the police…. Someone can report it, someone knows what he did. Shame on anyone staying silent as well as the PM.
Stop accepting low level leaders and demand better. When you let your voice go, you have nothing. It will not change unless people demand better.