The Attorney General, Graham Leung, startled lawyers at the annual conference of the Fiji Law Society by saying there are far too many of them, many of them aren’t any good and far too many of them are badly behaved.
He revealed that 3,915 lawyers have had complaints lodged against them with the Legal Practitioners Unit since it was established in 2009. The unit is the investigative arm of the Independent Legal Services Commission, which examines complaints against lawyers and then refers them upwards to the ILSC to decide whether action against a lawyer or law firm is warranted.
It is an appalling number for a country the size of Fiji. But it was what the Attorney General didn’t say that is even more appalling. That the head of the Legal Practitioners Unit – the person who decides whether other lawyers have behaved badly – is none other than the Chief Registrar, Tomasi Bainivalu, who was appointed by the Coalition amid a furore for having been convicted for drink driving. And having had the case against him heard in secret when any other drink driver has to face open court.
Graham Leung also failed to mention that the current Deputy DPP, John Rabuku, was not only investigated by the Legal Practitioners Unit but found guilty by the Independent Legal Services Commission of professional misconduct. And the same applies to Filimoni Vosarogo – the current Minister for Lands and Mineral Resources – who was found guilty not once but three times of the same charge.
It’s not as if these cases would have slipped Graham Leung’s mind. John Rabuku was removed as Acting DPP in very public circumstances in July precisely because the Constitution prevents anyone who has been found guilty of professional misconduct from holding the position of DPP. And because of his three convictions, Filimoni Vosarogo was prevented from taking the very job Graham Leung now occupies – Attorney General – yet continues to thrive in politics and is even touted as a potential successor to his uncle, Sitiveni Rabuka, as Prime Minister.
The point is that it is pretty rich for someone from the Coalition government like Leung to rise to his feet before a gathering of Fiji’s lawyers in private practice and lecture them about proper conduct. The government’s record is actually appalling across a broad front. And for Graham Leung to throw boulders from his glass house smacked of the worst hypocrisy to many of those who had to listen to his self-righteous homily.
The Attorney General’s own record in standing up for proper conduct and the rule of law is also less than impressive. It has now been five months since he took the job as chief law officer of the state – heralded as a “new broom” to sweep up some of the mess created by his woeful predecessor, Siromi Turaga. But what change has Graham Leung been able to achieve? Zip, zero, zilch. Or if there has been any change at all, it has been hidden under that hat of his.
John Rabuku was removed from the top job at the ODPP after a panel of judges concluded the bleeding obvious – that his appointment as Acting DPP was unlawful because of the ILSC finding against him for professional misconduct. But no sooner had Elvis left the building at Gunu House than he strolled right back in again as Deputy DPP to his former subordinate and friend, Nancy Tikoisuva. Yes, Fiji. We can’t have a DPP who is guilty of professional misconduct but we can have a Deputy DPP who is guilty but still calls the shots behind the scenes and is to all intents and purposes still running the show.
Graham Leung’s routine defence to this and every other outrage under the Coalition is to say that he can’t do anything because these appointments have been made by the Judicial Services Commission under its rogue head – the outlaw Acting Chief Justice, Salesi Temo. But it is nonsense.
The Coalition installed the woefully unsuitable Temo at the apex of the judiciary when it knew of the multiple complaints made against him because of his conduct over the years, including the outrageous transference of blame in rape cases when women had supposedly “asked for it” by wearing provocative clothing. Salesi Temo is an oaf who has repeatedly breached the Constitution and clearly regards himself as above the law. But here’s the thing, Fiji. He is only “Acting” in the role of Chief Justice. He is not a substantive appointment. And the Coalition could remove him tomorrow if his presence at the top of the judiciary didn’t suit its purposes and choose someone else.
Why doesn’t it do so? Because Salesi Temo is clearly there to do the government’s bidding. Whether to have appointed Tomasi Bainivalu Chief Registrar when he had been convicted of drink driving or John Rabuku as Acting DPP when he was guilty of professional misconduct. And in the most egregious case of all – to have appointed Barbara Malimali as FICAC Commissioner when Temo knew that she was being investigated for abuse of office as chair of the Electoral Commission.
It is an open question whether the Acting CJ also knew that Biman Prasad, the Deputy Prime Minister, was about to be charged by FICAC and prevented that from happening. You can draw your own conclusions, Fiji. But we know from Francis Puleiwai that as the Chief Registrar and a roomful of senior lawyers tried to bully her into backing down, Tomasi Bainivalu quoted Salesi Temo as having said: “What is Francis doing?” And according to the Chief Registrar quoted the Acting CJ as having said that “no court in Fiji would accept” any charges filed by Francis Puleiwai.
Graham Leung also washes his hands – Pontius Pilate-like – of any responsibility for the debacle over the suspended DPP, Christopher Pryde. As Grubsheet has reported at length, it is now 19 months since Pryde was suspended for alleged misbehaviour after having been photographed with Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum at a Japanese Embassy function and he still hasn’t had the case against him heard.
It is an interminable and totally unforgivable delay. But it has been compounded by the unconscionable act of suspending Christopher Pryde’s salary and depriving him of the ability to properly defend himself (see our weekend article). The entire episode is an ugly, festering sore that has humiliated the Prime Minister – who said the DPP was entitled to still be paid – and has brought the criminal justice system into disrepute, especially with outsiders who have seen what Fiji does to officers of state who fall foul of the authorities.
Again, Graham Leung washes his hands of the Pryde case, claiming that it is a matter for the JSC and he is powerless to do anything. Nonsense. He could immediately recommend to the Prime Minister that the case against Christopher Pryde be settled. That a negotiation is reached to end the agony inflicted on the DPP and the nation by Salesi Temo that doesn’t need the authority of the Acting CJ to happen. And what about paying Sharvada Sharma – the solicitor general sacked by Frank Bainimarama and Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum – the full amount awarded to him by a judge for unlawful dismissal? That still hasn’t happened either.
Having been in the job of AG for five months, Graham Leung has had plenty of opportunity to address these challenges. But he chooses instead to lecture his fellow lawyers about proper conduct when the Coalition has failed to meet even the most basic standards of legal practice, which is unquestioned adherence to the law.
The man is a hypocrite who is far from being a “new broom” and instead has become part of the problem. And the sooner this whole sorry conga line of legal misfits is swept from the national stage, the better off the Fijian people will be.
UPDATE TUES AM:
Graham Leung must be regretting his Fiji Law Society speech, not only for drawing attention to the Coalition’s hypocrisy but coming under withering attack from Professor Shaista Shameen – the Vice Chancellor of the University of Fiji – for his comments about the quality of young lawyers emerging from the nation’s law schools.
Today’s Fiji Sun is describing it as a “war of words” but one in which there is no return fire. Shaista Shameem has pounded the Attorney General with heavy artillery and his only comment thus far is that she is entitled to her opinion.
Yep. And all things considered, you, AG, would have been best advised to keep your opinions to yourself. Because your first foray into the public space since you took office five months ago has been a public relations disaster.
Another one of our shameless friends of the crooks in power. Did he forget Rabuku and Barbara? Did he forget himself in that list of incompetent practitioners? Did he forget his short history in Cook Islands.
Shamelessly they keep parading.
The ink has dried, everything is in the past. They are all wearing clean diapers now, and therefore are entitled to new shitshows. lol
Wait, is that a panda in a hat? Or, a panderer? A panda that doth pander plenty.
Filimoni Vosarogo – the current Minister for Lands and Mineral Resources – who was found guilty not once but three times of the same charge. lol.
Wife must continue to mix him and herself more herbal tonics. He needs some for his brains. Fools.
Fijians are such a wild bunch. Never mind their lack of intelligence and respect for themselves. They just continue like nothing else has happened and acting fancy but they continue to look like cheap thick heads.
Why attacking native Fijians needlessly? You must be a frustrated Harijan stuck in a social rut that you cant climb out of. Lol
Native Fijians this, and Native Fijians that.
I’m still puzzled about the hat. Leung either thinks he’s James Spader from The Blacklist or a godfather from a mafia ring; the latter could be true given he has been inducted to Rabuka’s gang and now gets to benefit from the illegal gains.
I wonder if he will have any business left once this government is thrown out during the next elections. Perhaps he could sit in the street with his cap in hand, and people may drop coins into it…
Thank you GD for highlighting this.
I was nauseated after reading about Leung’s Lectures to the Law Society from his comfortable platform. It provides an opportunity to raise a few other related issues:
Leung’s attack was directed at the young lawyers who are still ‘wet behind the ears’, as he claims, and goes into reminiscing about the status of his generation who may have graduated from Australia, NZ and UK. I found this so condescending. Yes, the quality of graduates from our tertiary institutions may be wanting in many fields but this is something which is within the ambit of FHEC, Law Society and Institutions to address. I am told that some of the courses at tertiary institutions are taught by inexperienced part-time lawyers who tend to inflate pass rates to avoid any criticisms from students or the relevant University review committees.
I did not hear him address the extraordinary fees charged by established legal entities. Some of the rates are comparable to those in Australia and NZ . The firms readily engage these young trainee lawyers to do the work under their names. Of course the clients are short changed in the process.
If there are that many lawyers, why haven’t the charges come down?
Ans how long did it take to deal with those cases which have been dispensed with?
There is still no clear articulation of what process aggrieved clients should go through to get justice. For example, would a complaint against Vosarogo Lawyers get anywhere given that it only needs a telephone call from Hon Vosarogo to the guns in the Judiciary to brush these under the carpet. Is there an independent body which deals with these complaints and are these being publicized by FCCC, CCF or the Law Society.
The Lawyers and the Law Society are in cahoots. Imagine fining a lawyer only $200 for not turning up when they charge a client $350 an hour even if the cases are not called due to the absence of judges/magistrates or when they ask someone else to represent them when they are probably busy appearing for another case at the exactly the same time. Of course the replacement merely asks for a new date. And it is all billed to the client.
The clients are again the victims of such rampant unethical practices which is what the AG should be focusing on rather than use the young graduates, trying to build a career, as scapegoats.
Graham Leung became AG after having served in a powerhouse Pacific Island country such as the Cook Islands with a massive population of 13,500. His experience and vision for the legal system in Fiji is on full show. The man (I mean the person) is full of integrity and passion for justice. You just have to look at what he has achieved in the last 5 months to see where Fiji is headed. – in the right direction. The people of Fiji are fortunate to have him. Just ask him and the PM.
The situation in Fiji is no longer sad….its getting hillarious now.
People dont know whether to worry or just laugh at these kinds of people.
Hypocrisy is not well understood by many in the new coalition and possibly a wrong way to describe a government and its mostly illegal appointees.
Instead I’d say that the coalition is licking its own spit.
As part of the current government, Leung needs to be addressing the cause of the issues he has highlighted. Not giving an address demeaning the lawyers and being a hypocrite.
Maybe there are not enough good lawyers because the good ones with integrity have migrated. Maybe they don’t like to work in the legal system that does not follow legal procedures and ethics and lacks integrity. And a jurisdiction led by a CJ who is a known nutter.
Or maybe they just don’t like living is a racist country.
The number of complaints to ILSC is a serious concern. Maybe there is something fundamentally wrong and they haven’t addressed from law school. I note that majority of complaints relates to clients trust funds.
Leung needs to look at what the government he is part of is doing. All the illegal appointments, nepotism, conflict of interest etc.
Stop being a hypocrite. The address sounds very arrogant and condescending without suggesting any solutions.
Probably just a case of monkey see monkey do.
I think the AG is the new legal Godfather of the Fijian mafia. He certainly looks like one and he certainly has behaved in a similar manner in the time he has been AG.
The mafia do not know what hypocrisy means. That is a normal part of their business plan – doing good for the community in which they operate.
Firstly, he is fully attired to resemble a PIMP as opposed to being classy. This coalition clown is pimping himself and the entire justice system with his side bitches Siromi, Temo, and Tomasi.
Forget about lecturing the other lawyers, this imbecile should take a look at himself and how he has prostituted himself to the Coalition. He has failed to uphold the oath of office he took, and at the time of being admitted to the Bar. So instead of preaching to other lawyers this clown should look at his own conduct so far and justifying the actions of Wylie, Temo, Tomasi, Malimali and the other stooges of government.
This PIMP has lost all credibility. When he came in as AG we all thought he would genuinely uphold the rule of law. The only thing he is trying to hold up is his dying integrity and his soul that he sold out.
There is one rule for this PIMP and another for his coalition bitches.
Funny how he is professing for tougher rules of conduct, practice, and increasing the standards of the legal profession. This is contrary to what Time Bomb Temo said in his speech to new graduates directing the ILSC to take it easy on some of the breaches of Professional conduct by lawyers and basically turning a blind eye to some offenses- this coming from the CJ. What a f@#king joke he is.
Regardless of whether both Leung and Temo were educated overseas or in Fiji, it just goes to show through their own conduct thus far that in the case of some Fijians, a degree does not necessarily mean they have common sense and intelligence nor any aorta of shame for their conduct.
2026 is too long a wait.
Bring Richard Naidu in as AG. Nah, only joking. He’s an even bigger chutiya.
Fiji is not fast becoming a tinpot Banana Republic, it already is one.
What pisses me off is that the 2006 coup was to do a “clean up”, but after 16 long years Bai and Kai failed miserably. The country has not only gone backwards at a rapid rate, it is now worse than what things were like in 2006 or ever before.
They failed to finish the job and they missed a great opportunity. They fcuked-up big time in my opinion.
Now we have donkeys and dinosaurs from 4 decades ago in charge of the brewery which they will make into a cheapline brothel as a rapid rate, not to mention the drugged up population spread all over the streets everywhere. Just watch the number of young girls on the streets, if it is not already happening.
And the people of Fiji certainly deserve what they get – their choice. Many are still exuberant, just ask Baimaan.
And nothing will change after 2026 seeing many seem to be hopeful.
People should not be waiting for 2026, they should be marching on the streets everyday, but with so much freedom people have chosen to be freely sitting back and drinking grog instead. They are all waiting for something.
The PM’s preferred candidate for Speaker of the House is Retired Justice Jitoko.
What is his reputation – as I have not heard good things about him.
It is important that this person must be an iTaukei, whatever his background and history as ‘others’ do not qualify.
In fact, the more dodgy this person’s background is the more suitable he will be for the job. Just speaking from appointments made by this government in the last two years.
Remember, this position is just a referee in parliament! So it is not a very earth shattering position, and we all can accept some misdemeanours as they were all in the past anyway.
I just Googled Justice Jitoko. Another one who served in a powerhouse tinpot country like Nauru – population 12,700. So he is obviously immensely qualified for the job. And I am sure he loves the vulagi just like the PM, from the stories I have heard.
He really ought to be cast in a James Bond movie as the villain as someone had stated previously!
You can’t get justice in Fiji. The elite lawyers are too busy defending the corrupt!
By 2026, can you imagine what it will be like?
The only thing they acted urgently on was getting their salary increased.
No matter how bad it gets, they cannot come up with any plan or take swift and decisive action. There are certain things that even idiots could implement, would not require expertise or educational degrees, like clean up every beach, get rubbish bins and teach people to stop destroying the ocean with litter, this requires no expertise…
Everyone can see it’s dire. Just like drugs but did they get a new police force in place? No…
and I am just scratching my head wondering why. The only thing they did quickly was get their pay increased.
Looking like Oddjob from Goldfinger.
Fix your hat, ffs!
If the new lawyers are wet behind the ears, isn’t the AG soft in the f..king head? Has he looked in the mirror lately and asked what kind of yardstick and example he and his ‘overseas trained’ colleagues are setting? Nothing but pretentious and pompous.
“She/ He is entitled to their opinion”
This is becoming a misused cliche far too often. Used by these leaders to counter comments against their actions or behaviour.
It’s like saying the sun is entitled to come over the horizon every morning.
Everyone has their opinion – we know that. We want to hear your defence or explanation – not just that we the coalition govt have given the public the freedom to have their own opinion.