It is disgraceful enough that the Chief Justice, Salesi Temo, is using the Judicial Services Commission, which he heads, as a vehicle to defend himself against the Supreme Court CoI finding that he allegedly committed perjury and obstructed and perverted the course of justice in the Malimali affair.
Temo is using public money to engage the services of the Suva lawyer, Isireli Fa, in his application for a judicial review to overturn the findings of the CoI when he ought to be paying for the proceedings himself.
Why? Because it was a personal finding against him, not the JSC as a whole. And it is a gross abuse of his position to be hiding behind the authority of one of the nation’s most important offices of state and using it as a shield to fund a private defence against an allegation of grave criminal misconduct.
Yet to add insult to injury, Israeli Fa – speaking publicly on behalf of the JSC, not Temo – has threatened legal action against the Opposition Leader, Inia Seriratu, and anyone else who comments on the CoI after Seruiratu rightly called for the suspension of the Chief Justice.
Incredibly, Fa refers to Seruiratu “attempting to pervert the course of justice” – the same allegation made by the Supreme Court Judge, Justice David Ashton-Lewis, against Salesi Temo that to anyone but the Coalition, should have resulted in Temo’s immediate removal.
Fa out. So the democratically-elected Opposition Leader speaking out publicly and stating the bleeding obvious – that Salesi Temo must be suspended while the veracity of the grave allegations against him is determined – is an attempt to pervert the course of justice?
No, Mr Fa. It is your client who stands accused of perverting the course of justice last September 5 by telling the then acting deputy commissioner of FICAC, Francis Puleiwai, through the Chief Registrar that no court in Fiji would hear any charge she brought, including that against the Deputy Prime Minister, Biman Prasad, that she intended to lay that very day. It is all on tape and as evidence goes, is as hard as it gets.
It is certainly more than sufficient grounds for the Chief Justice to be suspended for misbehaviour and tried by three judges, as the Constitution stipulates. Yet you and your client are now attempting to pervert the democratic process by threatening legal action to gag the duly-elected Opposition Leader and prevent him from carrying out his duty to insist that the supreme law and proper process be upheld.
It is legal thuggery, pure and simple, and totally unacceptable. And in a clear sign of how isolated from reality you and your client have become, even prominent Coalition supporters such as your fellow lawyer, Richard Naidu, are going public to say so.
Got that, Mr Fa? Tell your client it isn’t going to work. The Opposition is not going to be intimidated by your “bogus legal threats”.
They have one of the Coalition government’s most prominent lawyers on their side – the Chair of the Fiscal Review Committee, no less – and someone who also has the means to make your lives hell in the court of public opinion.
So back off.
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As Grubsheet observed yesterday, there is an outrageous attempt being made to silence those the nation elected to keep the bastards honest.
The Fiji Times story to which Richard Naidu refers…
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The veneer of separation between the judiciary and the executive has also been completely smashed. Because this is a clear case of Salesi Temo and Isireli Fa colluding with the Acting Attorney General, Siromi Turaga, to throttle democracy and shut down legitimate debate.
“External interference”? Who the hell are these people kidding? What about the blatant internal interference to thwart a legally constituted Supreme Court Commission of Inquiry? And with the taxpayer expected to fund the whole sorry mess.
It is a concerted and outrageous attempt to frighten the Opposition into silence and keep the Fijian people in the dark. They must not be intimidated and have a clear duty to keep up the pressure.
So go Inia! The nation as a whole is solidly behind you. When it comes to integrity, the contrast between you and the Prime Minister and those he is protecting has never been more stark. And that will be worth much more than a gold Rolex come election day.
Isireli Fa is a two-bit lawyer whose law firm is struggling and who’ll do anything for a buck.
Clearly he has concocted with Salesi Temo a scheme to get his grubby and greedy paws on taxpayers money. This, of course, is the same Salesi Temo who fraudulently gifted Rabuku $100,000 from taxpayers funds – illegally.
But under PM Rabaku and his Coalition this type of corruption is the norm rather than the exception, as we have seen repeatedly in their short term so far.
“Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!” – I guess Sir Walter Scott must have written that with the coconut republic in mind.
So apt is it not GD?
Was FFP government really that bad after all?
Answer to first question:
Yes.
Answer to second question:
Nope.
Fa is an embarrassment to the legal profession. How dare he try to deprive Fijian citizens of the right to freely comment on a report WE paid for. Please, Mr Fa, take a knee before you embarrass yourself even more. (And for goodness sake please lose some weight).
Fa is connected to likes of NZ’s most Indian and sex pest Pramesh Sharma and also with the Rogue Wannabe influencer and dumped PAP supporter, Shailendra Gopal Raju. Noting the comments and like emojis on each others pages, it’s obvious that there a larger vested circle at play. Even Bimans cronies are supporting supporting him – this vested lot need to be marched down Suva after 2026 elections and stoned like the power hungry corrupt queen from games of throne who lost everything in the end and died – be ready Fa, Sharma, Raju, Prasad, Temo, Rabuka, Charanjoot, Lydia, Sirome, Entire DPP, entire FICac and Manoa K – God is watching your sins, death is near and God will deliver ( don’t worry about going to church, Temples and mosques- it’s too late)
Disgrace to the legal profession Mr Fa -looking at the above photo, he needs to cut back on Charlie Charters mother in law’s bread kitchen cream buns, like Charlie, it creams to thinking.
Who is going to investigate how many millions this law firm stole from the Monasavu compensation scheme awarded to the landowners.
It is tens of millions. So why are the people of Monasavu silent? Must be a traditional and cultural thing just like everything else in Fiji.
Who is auditing the Trust Account of this law firm? I can see all the dodgy dealings all the way from here.
The landowners were blaming EFL because it was easier to do so when Hasmukh was CEO. Now with the appointment of a new CEO everything has quietened down at least for now. Some went to see Far, he declined to even meet them saying that everything was explained and they were given the money.
Does anyone else think half of Fiji’s problems are caused by Suva lawyers?
Probably, and the rest by the corrupt government ministers.
Yet Isireli is making a public statement alleging serious misconduct by the COI whilst Isireli is legal counsel for Salesi. and that the matter is before the court or under investigation, isn’t that contemptuous behaviour and perverting the course of justice and preempting a judgement, exactly as what he is asking the representative of 200,246 voters the majority of registered voters of the 2022 election Inia not to?
Fa came into the picture probably with the backing of SODELPA. It’s the Coalition Government’s policy to spread ambassador appointments, tenders and consultancy opportunities around its Coalition partners,. Fa’s instructions came soon after the appointment of his bag boy, Simi Rasova as SODELPA general secretary. Rasova sat next to Fa in a talk back live stream phone-in only last month defending Fa against allegations of conning Monasavu landowners out of millions of dollars in compensation money.
The Judge had ruled in Fa’s case on a $52 million compensation claim by Monasavu landowners that Fa would collect his $5m dollar fee right away while landowners would collect their payouts over the next 99-years, with no adjustments for inflation, minus a modest first lump sum payment.
According to a recent statement by a Mr Burelevu Naqa on behalf of the landowners, Fa handles all landowner payments, and charges fees for all services he renders them which admitedly is standard practise amongst lawyers, but Nr Naqa revealed that it was common for some landowners to receive payments as low as $4.50 every six months while all others involved in power generation are laughing all the way to the bank and while Fiji consumers benefit from low electricity prices, all this in the back of Monasavu landowners.
Rasova himself was a subject of fraud charges under the previous government over alleged false declarations of his place of residence, being on Kadavu, whilst he allegedly lived in Suva. Other MPs charged with the same offence ended up in prison, but he denied the charge, and has been discharged by the Court so he was innocent. But though an active Fa supporter, his party leader is from Naitasiri and connected to Monassvu landowners, though through the Marama and former PSC Chair and Diplomat, Anare Jale there is a powerful Lauan Lobby too in SODELPA that’s connected to Fa indirectly, and now more directly following Rasova’s appointment.
Yr correspondent, “Where is the Money,” should not worry about the Monasavu landowners not speaking out, as the saying goes “the land has eyes, and teeth!”
All will be revealed in good time if it is in God’s plan. As Martin Luther King said “the arc of history bends towards justice.”
Bula Namaste Graham….just as an aside from the current discussion….has anyone noticed the October 7, not the one pertaining to Israel, but the Oct 7 relating to Fiji…it was on this day in 1987 that the military madman committed treason and declared Fiji a “republic”.
Strange about there not being a holiday to “celebrate” the republic !!
meanwhile, pedo prez’s son says that one of the reasons that ambulances do not make it to people who need them is that wheel tax has not been paid – according to the government’s own fiji times fan page.
Yet, the collation of the unwilling has the money to go so fa as to gift it to jsc.
Oh, the irony.
Richard “I have the means” Naidu chastising Isireli Fa, saying it’s not a crime for the Opposition Leader to criticize the COI. It wasn’t a crime either when GD questioned and criticized “Richie Rich” some time ago over conflict of interest. Yet the deep-pocketed Naidu threatened to sue him, with that now infamous boast: “I have the means.”
Lawyers, like politicians, are chameleons — honour optional, opportunism guaranteed.
I think this person from this dodgy law firm thinks he should run the country instead of elected people. I mean, Fiji is now a free country and people are entitled to make the laws as they go and we have already seen many instances of that.
This is especially true for people living in their own country. So for this law firm to make up the law as they go is no different.
What is more, in a now free country, people have the basic human right to be as stupid as they want if they so choose. And we all know, many in Fiji have exercised that right and proudly so. This country is the best Christian country and it has the best lawyers. I am not saying this. Just ask the Christians and the lawyers. The rest of the world should learn from Fiji.