Sitiveni Rabuka has reinforced his reputation for ruthlessness in his treatment of someone who has always displayed the greatest loyalty towards him – the now sacked Attorney General Graham Leung.
Leung was out of the country in Hong Kong when he is said to have received a one-line text message from the Prime Minister that said simply. “You are dismissed – COI Report”. (Or words very much to that effect).
We can imagine that it will have stunned Graham Leung. Because while he would have already known that the Ashton-Lewis Commission of Inquiry into the appointment of Barbara Malimali might well have made an adverse finding against him – having backed his friend, Malimali, to get the job in the first place – he would have expected his patron, Sitiveni Rabuka, to hold the line and protect him.
Yet Graham Leung and Barbara Malimali are finding out the hard way – as will other characters in this saga – that personal loyalty to Rabuka means nothing if they get in the way of his own personal ambitions. Winning next year’s election has become the number one priority for the Prime Minister. And anyone who gets in the way of that will end up as political road kill, no matter how confident they are of their own positions.
The same treatment that has been metered out to Leung and Malimali seems set to be metered out to a long list of characters in the Coalition pantomime over the coming days. It is a who’s who of the government and the offices of state:
- Deputy Prime Ministers Biman Prasad and Manoa Kamikamica,
- The Chief Justice, Salesi Temo,
- His Chief Registrar, the drink-driving Tomasi Bainivalu,
- The Solicitor General, Ropate Green Lomavatu,
- the Acting DPP, Nancy Tikoisuva,
- the Deputy DPP, John Rabuku,
- Plus anyone else who has received an adverse finding by Justice David Ashton-Lewis and who will, alternatively, be suspended while official inquiries are held into their conduct, be dismissed outright if they don’t have constitutional protection and maybe face criminal charges if their conduct warrants charges being laid.
So that’s the revolving door out. The revolving door in definitely includes the former FICAC Deputy Commissioner, Francis Puleiwai – who Sitiveni Rabuka met during his recent visit to New Zealand and has invited back to Suva to take up her position again at FICAC.
Also reportedly on the way back in is the FICAC chief investigator, Kuliniasi Saumi, who Barbara Malimali sacked after he gave evidence to the Ashton-Lewis Commission on Inquiry. And perhaps the DPP, Christopher Pryde, who retains the substantive position but is waiting overseas to hear from Salesi Temo whether he is again to be suspended for alleged misbehaviour after he was exonerated by three High Court judges. Pryde also faces the prospect of being arrested by FICAC after Nancy Tikoisuva referred him to her friend, Barbara Malimali, with allegations of expenses rorts from the same file the three judges rejected.
The point is that the earth has shifted since Malimali lost her job on Thursday. Francis Puleiwai is definitely returning and so might Christopher Pryde. But to turn the tables on the existing investigations against them and put the blow-torch on some of their tormentors.
When Francis Puleiwai returns to Suva, it is now inconceivable that she would do so without reinstating the charge against Biman Prasad of allegedly making a false declaration to the Elections Office. Grubsheet readers will recall that Barbara Malimali was parachuted into FICAC to elbow Francis Puleiwai aside on the very day that Puleiwai was about to charge the NFP leader. So that when the Prime Minister travels to New Zealand and tells Puleiwai to come back to her old job, what do we think is going to happen, Fiji? Yep. Sitiveni Rabuka is about to sacrifice his Coalition partner.
It is also inconceivable that Nancy Tikoisuva and John Rabuku can stay at the ODPP when they have been in cahoots with Barbara Malimali and are rumoured to be already thwarting a separate police investigation into Biman Prasad. No police docket will get through the gatekeepers at the ODPP with Tikoisuva and Rabuku still in place.
Yet were Christopher Pryde to be given the green light to return to take up his rightful position, the independence of the prosecution service would readily be restored and Pryde already has a good relationship with the Police Commissioner, Rusiate Tudravu, for them to work effectively together to bring alleged wrong-doers to justice.
As I say, the earth has shifted. The pieces on the chessboard of the criminal justice system are being rearranged. And some of the pieces that have been removed such as Francis Puleiwai and Christopher Pryde are clean-skins who can readily be put back on the board to get the system back on its proper course. Because the fact that it has been corrupted is no longer in doubt. And those facts will be laid bare when the Ashton-Lewis Report is made public next week.
Some of those said to have been adversely mentioned are fighting back, including the President of the Fiji Law Society, Wylie Clarke. In extraordinary comments on the front page of Saturday’s Fiji Times and a lengthy interview down-paper, Clarke defends Barbara Malimali, saying she was entitled to have the COI findings put to her and that the failure to so means that her suspension is unlawful.
Well, he would say that wouldn’t he? The Fiji Times doesn’t say so but Wylie Clarke was Barbara Malimali’s lawyer when Francis Puleiwai tried to arrest and charge her for abuse of office in her role as Chair of the Electoral Commission. A recording exists of Wylie Clarke being in the same room when the Chief Registrar, Tomasi Bainivalu, relayed a message to Puleiwai from the Chief Justice, Salesi Temo, that no court in Fiji would hear any charge she laid after Puleiwai had informed the then attorney general, Siromi Turaga, that Biman Prasad was to be charged that very day.
Wylie Clarke can be expected to fight for his client but he is also fighting for himself. Because the COI has reportedly made an adverse finding against him on the basis of the recording at FICAC that day in which the Deputy Commissioner of the corruption watchdog was being threatened. By some accounts – and we will know for certain next week – the COI recommends that the President of the Law Society be investigated for attempting to pervert the course of justice. You won’t read that in the Fiji Times. You can be sure of that.
The fact is that Wylie Clarke had responsibilities that day beyond to his duty to his client. As President of the Fiji Law Society, he had a responsibility to speak up for the rule of law. With his comments to the Fiji Times, this is the first time that Wylie Clarke has said anything publicly. But it’s not to stand up for the wider principle but because his client’s interests and his own are on the line.
Clarke says it wasn’t for the Prime Minister to advise the President to suspend Barbara Malimali but the Judicial Services Commission. But here’s the problem with that argument. The JSC is headed by the Chief Justice, Salesi Temo. And he too is said to be facing suspension, followed by a judicial Tribunal hearing, for his alleged role in interfering with FICAC investigations by telling Francis Puleiwai, through the Chief Registrar, that no court in Fiji would hear any charge she put before it. If that is true, Temo is in no position to advise the President what should happen to Barbara Malimali because of his own alleged role that day. And Wylie Clarke knows it because he was there in the room when Tomasi Bainivalu relayed instructions from the CJ by telephone to Francis Puleiwai to back off.
Puleiwai quoted Temo in an ABC interview as having said (on Bainivalu’s say so): “What is Francis doing?” and relaying the “no court in Fiji” threat. As I say, unfortunately for those present the whole encounter is on tape. Seemingly unbeknown to the other participants, the meeting was recorded by Kuluniasi Saumi, the Chief FICAC investigator. And it was for this action that Barbara Malimali sacked him after the existence of the recording was revealed in Saumi’s evidence to the COI. It is the “Barbara-gate” tape that like the infamous Nixon Watergate tapes, is hard evidence – a “smoking gun” capable of blowing several reputations away.
In any event, Wylie Clarke isn’t the independent authority the Fiji Times makes him out to be in today’s coverage, which you can read in full below. Yes, he is President of the Fiji Law Society but he is also undeniably up to his armpits in the “Barbara-gate” affair. So it is far from being the full story. Because true to form, reporter Cheerieann Wilson skates over that critically-important fact.
Yet there’s an intriguing backdrop to this whole affair that raises a lot of fresh questions about what is really going on currently behind the scenes. We know that Sitiveni Rabuka himself set this whole ball rolling by establishing the Ashton-Lewis Commission of Inquiry in the first place. Why did he do so? Was it because he was genuinely concerned by the corruption of the offices of state or did he see an opportunity to knock off some of his political rivals and contest the next election unchallenged? That is a burning question, the answer to which we may never know.
But here’s another question. Why was the Prime Minister – having originally undertaken to release the COI findings – saying as recently as this week that they wouldn’t be released only to make yet another about-face? Rabuka hasn’t specifically confirmed publicly yet that the COI Report will be released next week but that’s the story emerging from the shadowy recesses of government.
Why the change of heart? Is it because the Commander of the RFMF, Major General Ro Jone Kalouniwai wrote to the Defence Minister, Pio Tikoduadua, telling him that the Report should be released? (See our previous story). Has the Prime Minister been forced into a back-flip because of pressure from the military? Expect public denials all round but that’s what many Fijians are going to suspect. And if it is the case, many people are going to be grateful.
For the best part of two years, Jone Kalouniwai has sat on his hands in the face of repeated outrages on the part of the Coalition, including blatant violations of the Constitution. He has seemed more interested in hugs. tears and expressions of regret within his own ranks for the outrages of the past than fulfilling his constitutional duty to ensure the well-being of every Fijian.
Yet Kalouniwai appears to have finally taken a stand. And what anyone might think about the appropriateness of his intervention, it is a stand for good governance, accountability, transparency and the rule of law at a time when many Fijians have been deeply worried that our democratic institutions have been under attack.
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Today’s (Saturday’s) Fiji Times coverage. Attention Fiji Sun: I have tried to renew my online subscription but your payment page is down. Hence no Fiji Sun coverage. Apologies to my readers.
UPDATE SUNDAY AM.
Francis Puleiwai speaks to the Fiji Times:
And the Opposition asks why Barbara Malimali was suspended, not dismissed, if her appointment was unlawful in the first place.
NOTE TO MY READERS:
Grubsheet is away for the weekend but I will continue to upload comments when I can.
Sota tale.
Wylie is both conflicted and confused in his views! Conflicted in his views because he himself was embroiled in the scandal (Barbara/Pulewai). Confused because he should know PM/President acted on the recommendations of the COI report prepared by a learned judge. The affected parties already had the opportunity to challenge allegations with Judge who presided over the COI. Perhaps, Fiji Times should interview someone qualified who is not connected with the case. This would be objective analysis.
Rokoika’s appointment (and the process of such appointment) is questionable – and perhaps someone senior within the FICAC ranks should have acted until Pulewai makes her decision to return. A quick check on Rokoika’s profile shows she lacks professional experience and has no credible legal qualifications in the area of anti corruption/fraud/investigations/forensics as well as electoral laws. She has worked in smaller jurisdictions (Cook Islands, etc) and had relatively been unknown such as not involved in any landmark corruption-related case laws. Her expertise in other areas (such as customary land laws, etc) is highly respected and it appears that she has done well in these. But her lack of experience in FICAC-related works might affect in dealing with critical FICAC cases – at least for now. The fear is whether she will influence or get influenced in smear campaigns to prevent Pulewai’s return since stakes are high for those implicated in the COI report.
Hi GD, The RFMF have “shifted the earth”. The military has acted professionally and with its constitutional powers to advise appropriately. The PM initially wanted to release the report but had a change in heart later. Military’s feedback may have now helped PM to make the appropriate decision.
Get the Commander to behave like other civilised and professional soldiers do in this situation i.e. take off his unform, put his gun away and go jump into the political ring to contest his ideas.
He is behaving like his mentors; Rabuka (1987) and Bainimarama (2006)
That’s why people want the 2013 Constitution thrown out.
Your reply is a bit uncivilized as there is no need to take off the shirt and get in the ring! The commander, by exercising his powers under the Constitution, wrote a confidential letter to his line Minister stating the RFMF’s views and this was properly received by his line Minister – there is nothing uncivilized in it. You are also wrong on “people” wanting to “throw out” 2013 Constitution as no referendum with 75% people’s support has been received. You clearly do not believe in good governance and accountability.
Please tell us exactly what is the threat to national security and the ‘well being of the people of Fiji’ resulting from the COI Report not being made public?
Thats the question the PM should put to the Commander.
I bet the Commander does not know himself!
If he did, he would not have written that silly letter to ‘Gusu Teru’ who recently came back from a 42 day vacation in the Middle East.
I think.
Threat to National Security arises when electorates who put people into power are denied the opportunity for good governance and accountability, thus raising animosity and potential unrest (as seen in many countries). Well being for Fijians is undermined when those in political power do corrupt activities and get away with it – and also try to hide it.
Rabuka himself knows that only too well ie national security or insecurity
What about the threat to Puleiwai’s family etc which she alluded to in her television interview here?
The question now is will any apologies be forthcoming from PM Rabuka and the fart CJ Temo for the mistreatment of Puleiwai.The way Temo threatened the judicial process by sending that warning via his sidekick fart the court Registrar Tomasi Bainivalu ” that no court in Fiji would accept any of her cases” signals that not only he is above the law but he has been treating the courts and the judiciary as if it was his father’s backyard
Jump into the political ring…not the boxing ring !
Commander RFMF is a politically neutrel position and no need to jump into political ring!
@A21. Bullshit. Jhoòt baat.
There is no proof that the majority of people want the constitution ‘thrown out’ – whatever that’s supposed to mean.
Repeating personal opinion as fact does not make it so.
The problem with itaukei thinking is if anything does not suit them, then it must be wrong. So let’s move the goalposts.
Follow the rules in place! The snake tried in parliament and failed spectacularly when he couldn’t muster the votes to amend the supreme law.
The snake should have then and there fell on sword and resigned government for the bill’s failure to garner enough votes. But we know the snake is captain coward.
The g c c chair wants the constitution out ‘the back door’ bullshitting that the supreme law of the land somehow mysteriously stops itaukei progress.
This new excuse is after the treacherous and treasonous chair previously claimed 33 things had to be changed.
Everyone since has been waiting for one real reason, not ONE of 33 has been offered to date. Other than vague, seditious threats from the chairman who himself was heavily involved in the putsch of 2000.
We don’t hear you A21 say the GCC chair should jump in the political ring to contest his ideas.
Nor do we hear any itaukei say the same about the UNELECTED entire council of leeches sucking on the teats of taxpayers.
We remember this chairman well. He hightailed it to NZ when the going got rough in the mess he helped create, where he lived in exile for several years.
The man loves to pass himself off as some kind of intellectual expert. BS. Military life is all he has known his entire life.
Same as the other useless twit in Australia who, with the-now-fired AG, blamed the Indo-Fijians for all the ills afflicting the itaukei. In a report endorsed by the unelected uneducated gçc no less.
Equally important, it is merely speculation of the military ‘intervened’in the current government saga. No one knows for sure what, if anything, the military might have said or done to influence the snake.
Other than the ‘confidential’ letter to the poker faced corrupt (passports anyone?) minister, nothing more is known.
The military role (if any) is, therefore, mere conjecture.
Sa routa mada na nomu lasolaso.
TO BE THE MAN, YOU GOT TO BEAT THE MAN. THANK YOU MILLITERY COMMANDER FOR PUTTING THE PRESSURE ON THE PRIME MINISTER.
Pressure was on the Commander in the Golan and he orfered their surrender !
So who is he to try and pressure the PM on an afministrative issue?
GD
Mr Rolex Rambo, the PM was perhaps coerced to take action as a result of the RFMF’s intervention. Previously his comments on releasing the CoI report was neither here nor there, and he kept moving the goal post with silly and pathetic excuses about the likelihood of potential damage to a few of the named individuals in the Report. Once, he got the wind of the RFMF’s letter ONLY then he began to act like someone in charge by firstly dismissing the political appointee, the A-G , followed by suspending the civil servant appointee, Malimali.
Meanwhile, I do agree with others that releasing the substantive Report earlier on or issuing an edited version to those named individuals who had appeared before the Tribunal and gave evidence would have been helpful. Because everyone whether guilty or innocent is entitled to know what (fact-finding or fact-sensitive) information is written about them.
Finally, the gov’t should consider overhauling the entire judiciary by bringing in
English speaking qualified personnel (from commonwealth countries), who are independent, neutral and highly qualified legal brains to clean out the mess created by the gang of iTaukeis’.
GD, It is not legally right to say that a CoI or its findings of fact can be appealed by way of a Judicial Review application.
This wouldn’t fly as an argument in NSW or any other common law jurisdiction.
Challenges could have been brought before the final report, but not now.
Graham, Kalouniwai had been a pussy all this while ! Now the RFMF Military council needs to take charge and get both Rabuka and Naiqama to be charged ! What they did to Former President Ratu Wili Katonivere was coercion! They blackmailed him so he could retire as President! All this while the so called report they used has not seen the light of day likewise much like the COI report !!
Rabuka and Naiqama did a very serious offense there and they must be held to account for it and be criminally charged ! They thought the law didn’t apply to them anymore because Kalouniwai was “ in the bag”!! To get Naiqama to take the position knowing he was Rabuka’s paramount chief, as the PM often says. is nepotism at the highest level ! One was getting the financial boost and prestige in the appointment : the other thought now President was in place his government present and future was assured especially in the event there is a no confidence motion against the PM where the President would have to play a role . Likewise in the new PM after the new elections .
Ratou sa rai Sara tiko e Liu Graham!! They must not be allowed to get away with this !! By the way your news tip- Rabuka is buying a new house next to his current one in Muanikau! Where did he suddenly get the money to buy a million dollar property from? That’s an exclusive area and for someone only into his 3rd year as Pm- surely that’s not money earned the proper way!!
Whilst PM is being charged ; also investigate and charge him for undue influence over the Fiji National University. His interferences got his daughter Salaseini Ligamamada Rabuka to be appointed Director Training. There was an incumbent in the position . The person was shoved aside to appoint Salaseini a mere assistant lecturer at FNU!!
You see Rabuka thinks he can come and collect millions this time around and he bullies and cajoles his way around including trying to change the 2013 constitution into a racist one that will further marginalize the only struggling Indo Fijian (FIJIAN) community to becoming second rate citizens !!
Charge Rabuka and Naiqama mada!! Someone needs to file a Police complaint against them for coercion of the former President!! Lawakica duo!!
Now they bring Lavenia Rokoika Vakalalalbure another Vanua Levu conwoman connection ! Must ga new AG also one of their cronies Kaivata !!
Please go lodge a Police complaint yourself. Kakua ni o sonalevu tiko
Why should we lodge a Police report if your govt is going to come after us with everything you got ? It’s not like your govt protects freedom of expression! They are all about supporting their cronies like Biman and Others !!
Rabuka should do the honorable thing and resign from his position as PM give the COI has revealed the kind of dirt that’s going to be hard to wipe away!!
Vakaloloma 😞
Rabuka explain mada why you want the Constitution changed ? Se bera ga ni oti nomu racism ??? Yalo ca Tamani Lawaki ca !! Your Fiji would stink with just iTaukei! Get it your fool! Now your Fiji Airways Board have successfully got the CEO to resign ! Baci about to appoint one of your cronies there ! That airline will collapse just like your collapsed the NBF, you fool no school !
Maybe everyone forgot about the former president. He is in FICAC’s firing line too.
The RFMF has done nothing, GD. They are puppets to Buka.
Nothing? In this case, the puppets shook their strings and fought back.
Let me elaborate on this.
No! Rabuka is not ruthless, he gets no credit. He is still slithering and manoeuvring his way to winning 2026 election.
Ironically, it is the RFMF that has become a real pain for him now.
The army commander gives command to army personnel but works with the military council. Dissent within the military in light of corruption and suffering of the people under this government?
By the way, it was not a Talanoa session this time. It was written to the line minister, in confidentiality. He would not disclose the contents till he discusses with PM and cabinet. He may have good reason for that. But why did he make the confidential letter public? Is it to save the face of coalition government and put the blame on RFMF? Anyway, we public are deprived of opportunity to read between the lines.
AG Leung was just an easy target, sacrificial goat. He seemed pretty impotent and useless for any use to the government anyway. Rabuka will only suspend his cronies and drag it as long as possible. He is not terminating them. Then he is handpicking who is next on the list.
The bigger questions in coming weeks will be political impartiality of the DPP and Rabuka’s choice as ComPol. A familiar comment we used, “Not enough evidence to lay charges against the accused.”
He has to implement the recommendations of the COI. He will release the full COI report to public. The custodians of the Fiji constitution, the RFMF, have written.
The beauty of the 2013 Constitution. The end of the coup culture in Fiji. The military has a duty to see the constitution is followed and there is no corruption being practiced by the government.
No, Rabuka is not ruthless, The Military is doing its job as stated in the 2013 constitution.
Rabuka fully understands the aspirations of the Itaukei. In turn, he will always be held in high regard by many of his people. It is an immense challenge, to protect as a custodian, to govern equitably and, extend honour to the vulagi.
Yes, AG Leung was a sacrificial goat. What has Rabuka done to Temo, the corrupt and impartial Chief Justice. He has to go according to the COI report?
No one was sacrificed.
The sacked AG is a goat. The feckwit played a central role in creating the mess with his despicable, epic, and endless shit housery.
Leung deserves a proper kick or two in his rotten nether regions to knock some shame into his ugly ass mug.
No one can come out looking clean from the shambles have now.
Including the snake who thinks he is cleaning shit off himself, not realising he is standing knee deep in the same shit.
Why not release the COI report today. Why wait till next week?
This self-serving PM is keeping us in suspense. He has been keeping the people in suspense for almost 40 years about who was behind 1987.
He is a attention seeker. This whole this is about him. He loves to bask in glory and being the center of attention when people talk about him. He feels very important. Little does he realise that he is just a piece of shit. Now he knows.
Is Biman shitting his pants already or has Richy Rich Naidu still got a plan to save him somehow?
While the PM seems to have grown a ball somehow, lets not forget that Rabuka is a snake after all, shedding shin as the weather necessitates. All this may seem like him showing signs of being a good leader are actually the right things he should have done a long time ago.
While i have no doubt there will be more casualties in this current situation, it is Rabuka that needs to be sacrificed come next elections if Fiji and Fijians are ever to progress. The old political heads have to be smashed for new leadership and new ideas to rise for a new Fiji that will be better for all.
Again….is Biman already shitting his pants or has he got a trump card still up his sleeve?
Absolutely egregious reporting by the Fiji Times in failing to mention Clark’s conflict of interest.
Sorry but at some point someone has got to call you out for your completely hysterical and contradictory nonsense.
Anyone reading your increasingly shrill coverage over the past six weeks would believe you had staked your life on the fact Rabuka was going to do nothing with the COI report.
With steely-eyed confidence, you projected the PM was going to bury its recommendations or equivocate until the end of time [‘Two-faced, spineless and corrupt’; ‘Whether it is corruption or incompetence, the dithering over the COI report …’; ‘Why should anyone continue to have patience with this old fool’ etc. etc.]
Whether Rabuka was always going to act, was prompted to act by some external party or event, or just wanted to save you from an aneurysm, he’s defied your overheated predictions and started to act.
I think there’s a case to make Rabuka may be clearing the decks of those who might cramp his style with inconvenient legal truths as he gears up for election season. Hence the exit of Graham Leung. What happens next may tell us more – let’s see if the axe touches the necks of those who joined his PAP on the promise Rabuka was a one-term PM but now see him staggering on like Joe Biden.
Taking aim at Wylie Clarke is an extra special grubby effort given the loathsome masters you served and were consistently wrong about for more than ten years.
Clarke’s point in the FT, with his Fiji Law Society hat on, was that for the COI recommendations to be bedded down all those who are accused must be afforded natural justice. This is the very same issue that you whine about endlessly with ‘Nolle Prosequi’ Pryde.
Clarke was also very clear he wanted the COI report published so that those you are so gleefully stabbing about could at least know what they were being accused of. Even you must acknowledge that’s difficult to do when only one unredacted copy exists. Supposedly.
Under Frank and Aiyaz, it was enough for either or both to get out of bed on the wrong side and summarily dismiss lawyers, judges, magistrates, or worse.
I don’t recall you getting especially antsy about the terminations of Mary Muir, Eparama Rokoika or Elsie Hudson, or Madhawa Tennakoon, or passing comment on the torching of Sir Gordon Ward’s house or the deliberate loosening of the wheel nuts on the car of the judge trying Francis Kean.
There was barely ever any notice, explanation, or actionable recourse available to those legal professionals who lost their livelihoods and had their names besmirched by the regime you served so obediently.
Unless, of course, one was fortunate with timing, like Sharvada Sharma whose unlawful termination, suspension and suspension without salary in 2021 was mopped up by the Coalition government and cost taxpayers at least $3m.
It seems to me that all that Clarke is doing, as FLS president, is reminding this PM that the former PM’s cavalier standards were appalling and that if the COI is to mean anything it must not make the same mistakes as were so common place under Bainimarama.
Of course, it is laughable to even think of knuckle-dragging thug like Bainimarama and his low-wattage legal brain, the meth-export-enabling AG allowing any aspect of their state capture to be examined by an independent judge-led inquiry while they were still in office.
Courage is an overused word.
Now you have whipped yourself into orgiastic delight, demanding, expecting more heads to fall left, right and centre, please acknowledge it takes courage to be the one person standing in the middle of the storm saying, Due Process Please. That person is Wylie Clarke, doing the necessary to uphold the rule of law.
It’s poor of you to jump on Clarke’s back for doing now what you never did while doing your best imitation of a Cunard Line waiter serving soup at the table of Frank and Aiyaz for all those years.
Hey Charlie.
You make out that Wylie Clark is a paragon of virtue. You wait till the military steps in ….he will be running back to Samoa !
I’m not saying Wylie’s a paragon of virtue. That’s between him and his God, his wife and her all-knowing family.
What I am saying is that commentators like Graham and on Facebook Jiaoji Savou have been building their case against Wylie on the basis that Wylie acted for Malimali. Savou described this as his ‘Fact Number 1’.
This Fact Number 1 was proof that Wylie was compromised, wearing two hats, had a conflict of interest etc.
Wylie wrote to me to say he has never acted for Malimali.
A second fact that Savou put forward was that Wylie was present during the Pulemai interview of Malimali.
Again, Wylie has said in writing that that is not true.
The best evidence that Savou offered when I asked him to prove his claim was a Grubsheet column from January which reported Wylie had acted for Malimali [not true according to Wylie] and a picture of Wylie and Malimali leaving the Suva offices of FICAC.
So a series of confident assertions have actually been based on assumptions and guesswork. Again, just to be clear: Wylie has denied both.
So I am not saying nor do I know if Wylie is a paragon of virtue.
But I am comfortable saying that there is much that he is accused of that is simply not true. And that basically undermines everything else.
Those who have made such assertions as fact should have a look at themselves, and perhaps explain to the rest of us what their agenda is exactly.
That’s the key claim Wylie is making about the COI and what happens next. Instead of firing half cock into the dark, let everyone have due process. Including himself.
Because Savou supporters are celebrating that Wylie has been named in the COI report and had an adverse finding against him. How can this be?
Charlie Charters, you need to get your facts right. You have been misled.
Charlie believes lawyers never lie. Putz.
Oh my! The baker’s son-in-law has risen, paralyzed and pained by the past as usual, harping on about 16 years ago.
Wile e. Coyote is a huge part of the problem, and he has no standards nor standing to offer the PM legal advice.
It is no secret that the coyote, barbwire, cheech, the x-AG, santa ram clause, and yourself with many other Suva “elites” all share the same loaf of bread.
Coyote is likely himself adversely mentioned by the Ashton-Lewis inquiry for his unethical and possibly illegal conduct to allegedly pervert the cause of justice in the ficac saga.
Your contention that the Coyote is courageous is hilarious and wildly misplaced.
The best wile e coyote can do is resign as president for his egregious conflict of interest in the entire ongoing saga.
You and courage?
Mate.
While your points have merit, the apparent selective application of the ‘rule of law’ presents a significant inconsistency. In Suva, the elite, having seen their disproportionate influence wane under Frank, seemingly believed they could manipulate Rabuka. This stems from a colonial-era mentality where they expect certain Fijians to serve their interests within a rigid social hierarchy. As long as this hierarchy is maintained, the elite are content, their interests served under the guise of Fijian political control. Their underlying insecurity then manifests as condescension towards Fijians and anyone challenging this order, and preserves their own narrow and backward views on race and particularly indo Fijians who are laughed at for being rude and crass.
Adding to this dynamic are business interests, often referred to as the ‘Gujarati,’ who prioritize power regardless of who holds it, alongside the broader population seeking greater equity. Any deviation from the established order by these latter groups is swiftly opposed. The ‘rule of law’ appears to be invoked primarily when the elite’s interests are at stake. The lack of widespread outcry regarding Francis’s removal from FICAC supports this.
Furthermore, the Judge-led COI’s findings, which should be transparent, represent a potentially unprecedented scrutiny of the elite. The resistance to its findings likely stems not from a genuine concern for the rule of law, but from discomfort with this accountability. Therefore, let’s be frank (figuratively speaking): this issue appears less about upholding legal principles and more about a reaction to the elite facing investigation and accountability for the first time. This interest is also likely why you, and others continue to read GD’s blog. Let’s face it we want to see what’s happening. Social media so effectively weaponised by the elite before has given them the shock of their lives. They are all crying out at once: “Accountability? That’s for other people!”
Charlie Charters, you are terminally incapable of seeing the point. I have given Wylie Clarke ample opportunity to explain his gross conflict of interest in simultaneously representing Barbara Malimali and representing the nation’s lawyers in private practice. (see below) You can’t wear one hat – as you put it – while wearing another. So what, pray tell, is courageous about that?
The problem for Wiley Clarke in relation to your contention is that he is upholding due process and the rule of law is that he was present when an attempt was made to subvert that process. And worse, it succeeded when Francis Puleiwai’s plan as FICAC Deputy Commissioner to charge Biman Prasad was scuttled.
Wylie Clark was physically present. I have read the transcript of Kuliniasi Saumi’s recording of what transpired. And at no time does Wylie Clarke say ” excuse me but what is happening here is unlawful and just plain wrong”. I haven’t published that transcript in deference to due process. But doubtless it will eventually emerge. And many of the nation’s lawyers who Wylie Clarke represents will be shocked that their President didn’t speak up.
So you can drag up all your old prejudices against me but it doesn’t alter the fact that Wylie Clarke is hopelessly compromised, not just by trying to wear two hats at once – as Barbara Malimali’s lawyer and FLS President – but by his conduct at a meeting all of those present presumably thought would remain secret but was being recorded by the chief FICAC investigator and emerged for the first time at the COI. It resulted in him being sacked by Wylie Clarke’s client but it isn’t going to go away.
Of course, due process must be followed. Hopefully there will now be proper investigations, charges where they are warranted and trials. But your knee-jerk defence of Wylie Clarke is wildly premature.
Remaining idle while due process at the corruption watchdog was being actively subverted in front of you is not in the least bit courageous. On the contrary. It is deeply disturbing given the FLS President’s exalted position and duty to uphold the rule of law .
For you to jump on me with your intemperate and irrelevant personal attack is what is genuinely hysterical under the circumstances. Not for the first time, you are in danger of having soup split down your front, old chap.
Some background reading in the meantime.
https://www.grubsheet.com.au/barbara-gate-an-open-letter-to-wylie-clarke/
https://www.grubsheet.com.au/what-game-is-wylie-clarke-playing/
Graham
When Wylie writes to me and says he has never represented Malimali I, like you, know him to be a person of the highest integrity. His clarity on this matter is simple and straightforward, and good enough for me.
You assert in your open letter that he is or was Malimali’s lawyer. He told me in writing he never was. I believe him over you.
Why was Wylie there at all? This is an aspect that, to be frank, I didnt immediately grasp because I’m a non lawyer and don’t really understand the clannish ways of the legal profession.
So I was happy to read Suva lawyer Adrienne Ali admonishing Jiaoji Savou earlier today for presenting Wylie’s presence at FICAC on behalf of the FLS in such prejudicial terms.
‘ … You also know that FLS steps forward to provide general support and advice to members. If I were being interviewed, I’d ask FLS to send someone to help me. You’re making too much of this issue and inviting keyboard warriors to make assumptions and calls they’re not competent to make.’
In the short time I have debated Savou on the facts he had asserted in his case against Wylie, he has significantly changed the story he is telling.
– conceding Wylie might not actually have been Malimali’s lawyer
– that Wylie was not present in the interview Savou alleged took place of Malimali by Pulewai
– that in fact there was no interview of Malimali by Pulewau
He says my issue with the evolving basis of his facts is one of ‘semantics’ and that all I need to do is listen to the audio recording.
Sadly I really couldn’t make out what was being said and by whom.
As you say and Wylie said too, the COI report should be published ASAP.
There is no due process being provided in any of this as even Blind Freddy can see.
Charlie, your loyalty to Wylie Clarke is commendable but you are in idiot. Please read the following, which includes documentary evidence that Wylie Clarke was Barbara Malimali’s lawyer.
https://www.fijileaks.com/home/wily-contradictions-fls-president-wylie-clarke-says-he-was-not-barbara-malimalis-lawyer-on-5-september-when-she-was-arrested-by-ficac-officers-she-says-i-asked-to-make-call-to-my-lawyer-wylie-clarke
Now get off your high horse and get with the facts.
Graham
I shared the Fijileaks link with Wylie and he reiterated that he has not acted for Malimali.
Yes, Bale does say in his affidavit that Wylie was Malimali’s lawyer
In his testimony to the COI Wylie said Bale explained he/Bale had been mistaken on that point and in effect retracted that.
Presumably this will be confirmed when the COI is published.
Wylie said on ‘Black Thursday’ there was no discussion with Malimali about him representing her. See Adrienne Ali’s comments to Savou about it being standard for a lawyer to ask FLS for support in such circumstances.
He was there in his capacity as President of the FLS.
Given the gravity of the situation he immediately asked Laurel to join him at FICAC as she was the immediate past FLS president. Recognising this, she agreed.
A starting position we should both be able to agree on is that Wylie is a person of the highest integrity [your words not mine].
So perhaps it’s time to stop being so selective about ‘facts’ which Wylie flatly denies in order to make your case.
Charlie, you were doing OK until your final sentence. Yes, we will eventually find out the truth, assuming the COI report is released. But to ascribe a “flat denial” by Wylie Clarke now as “fact” when he could have denied that he was Malimali lawyer months ago but didn’t and there is documentary evidence to the contrary doesn’t help his position or yours.
Having read the transcript of what happened at FICAC when Francis Puleiwai was threatened and intimidated with Wylie Clarke present, I now think there are serious questions about his integrity. Because if he was really only there as a representative of the Fiji Law Society to make sure that the right thing was done, there is no evidence that he did. And that is a very big problem for him.
Wait, what is the documentary evidence??
Victor asks in his headline:
‘WILY CONTRADICTIONS. FLS president Wylie CLARKE says he was NOT Malimali’s lawyer on 5 September when she was arrested by Ficac? She says ‘I asked to make a call to my lawyer’. Who was Malimali’s lawyer?’
He then goes on to reproduce:
a) Malimali’s affidavit which does not say Wylie is her lawyer – only that she wanted to call her lawyer. And called Wylie as head of the FLS. [See Adrienne Ali’s point that she, as a lawyer, would also seek FLS support in a similar situation.]
b) a summary of Laurel’s statement where she said she and Wylie were present on behalf of the FLS
c) Laurel assumed that Bale and Nem were present as Malimali’s lawyers [which I wrote earlier was Wylie’s assumption too]
d) Bale’s affidavit in which he says BOTH Wylie and Laurel said they were Malimali’s lawyers – unlikely given they were principals of competing Suva law firms. According to Wylie, Bale subsequently clarified to the COI this was a mistake on Bale’s part.
And e) Wylie’s affidavit in which he says prior to the two back to back calls on Black Thursday he could not recall speaking with Malimali ‘for several years’ apart from hellos at social events.
Wylie sets out clearly why the arrest of the new FICAC Commissioner on the first day of work was of grave concern for the FLS given it was ordered by someone who had applied for and been passed over for the same job, and that he had become alarmed by reports FICAC had started to prepublicise their raids in their investigation of the FICAC Commissioner in her FEO role.
So please advise where is this documentary evidence in the Fijileaks story that proves definitively that Wylie represented Malimali – absent Bale’s improbable assertion, subsequently clarified to the COI, that Malimali had hired both Wylie and Laurel?
Charlie, I am driving on the South Coast of NSW and don’t have time for a forensic search of the documents you require to uphold your position. Suffice it to say that last October 4, I posed the following questions to Wylie Clarke, and he has had eight months to respond to them. He has not.
So if there is any confusion now as to why he was at FICAC and according to the COI, was among those who “secured the release” of Barbara Malimali, he carries the primary responsibility for that confusion in not setting the record straight. With me or anyone.
I don’t regard setting the record straight through his matanivanua – you – as being adequate under the circumstances. But please tell him that he is welcome to answer the original questions I posed back in October and I will publish them here in full.
Dear Wylie,
For the benefit of the members of the Fiji Law Society and the wider community who are aghast at what has happened at FICAC and its implications for the independence of the corruption watchdog and the integrity of the criminal justice system, would you please provide answers to the following:
1/ Why did you choose to represent Barbara Malmali when there were clearly other lawyers at Howards (Clarke’s law firm) who could have done so without compromising your position as President of the Law Society.
2/ Do you accept that in agreeing to represent her, you had an inherent conflict of interest in being able to speak for the Law Society in what you must have known was a highly contentious set of circumstances that was already being cast as an assault on the rule of law?
3/ What precisely did you say to Francis Puleiwai personally that would have led her to the view that you were interfering in her independence as deputy FICAC Commissioner?
4/ Did you witness the alleged comments by the Chief Registrar quoting the Acting Chief Justice as having said that no registry in Fiji would accept any charge laid by Francis Pulewai? As President of the Law Society, what is your response to such a comment?
5/ What precise role, if any, have you played in the attempts by the State to remove Francis Puleiwai and replace her at FICAC with Barbara Malimali?
6/ Do you intend to represent Barbara Malimali at the mooted forthcoming “official inquiry” into the circumstances of her appointment? If so, is that an appropriate role for the President of the Fiji Law Society?
7/ Why has the Law Society chosen not to comment on events at FICAC when so many of the nation’s lawyers are deeply concerned at what they regard as an assault on its independence and a direct threat to the rule of law in Fiji?
I think we would all very much appreciate some answers and I invite you to do so in these columns.
Yours faithfully etc
Charlie, Charlie, Charlie… I’m starting to think you need to lay off whatever it is you’re smoking. You’re actually going around saying Wylie is “a person of the highest integrity”? Crikey!
It seems you’re so infatuated with this guy that your judgment is completely shot. You can’t even think rationally anymore.
Of course Wylie is going to deny being Malimali’s lawyer now; the shit has well and truly hit the fan, and it’s every stooge for himself, scrambling for cover.
He knows his game is up. But your blind loyalty towards this corrupt regime and their stooges is just on another level.
Evidence and affidavits, deposed by his other stooges, say otherwise. Even Wylie himself has admitted, at times, to being Malimali’s lawyer. If that’s not enough to completely trash Wylie’s credibility, then I’m starting to think you are completely devoid of any intellectual capacity.
I didn’t write that Wylie was a person of integrity; that was what Graham Davis wrote in an earlier blog as well as other encomia about his professional reputation.
I know it can be difficult keeping all these half truths, no truths, slurs and prejudgements straight in one’s mind but do try to keep up.
Gee Charlie. First you mount a full blown attack on me for daring to impugn Wiley Clarke’s integrity – defending him with the words “honour” and “courage” – and now you say you “didn’t write that Wylie is a person of integrity”, I did.
Back-peddling, are we? Isa. With friends like these.
Leave it to Old Man Charlie to make it about Bai and Kai.
When Loyalty Means Nothing: How Rabuka’s Ruthless Power Play Betrays Fiji’s Soul
There are moments in a nation’s life when the mask of leadership slips—and the raw, ruthless hunger for power stands exposed. This is one of those moments for Fiji. Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, once a figure some dared to trust, has made a cold calculation: his personal survival matters more than loyalty, more than justice, more than the nation itself. One by one, loyal allies who stood by him are being discarded—lives upended with the flick of a text message. Institutions are being bent to serve an election strategy, not the public good. What we are witnessing is not the cleansing of corruption—it is the corruption of leadership. And the people of Fiji deserve to see it for what it truly is: a tragedy of ambition, where political expediency now tramples the very soul of the country.
Charlie Charters can’t separate his arse from mouth if the world depended on it. Quick to defend Wylie, a man till date, leading FLS has done well what has he done for ordinary lawyers? FLS has no standing to be releasing their stance on his issues subjectively. Where was Wylie boy when AG refused to provide assistance to COI for Interpretation or other issues?
Fiji desperately needs an overhaul in the judiciary. The past two years has been chaos and arrogance in this institution. ITaukei legal professionals whose names have been appearing in the news became emboldened and entitled when SLR took over at the helm ~ pathetic!
Racism and ethno nationalism hasn’t done any good for Fiji and never will.
Sa JUNE mai Viti ~ release the full COI Report! That was paid by taxpayers.
If Charlie can see the difference ………..
Bainimarama as PM used to take disciplinary action immediately. Even if they were his ministers, lawyers, judges or magistrates. He did not care about their livelihood. He cared about the poor citizens of the country.
Rabuka started the coup; Bainimarama ended the coup culture.
Rabuka was a racist; Bainimarama brought about racial harmony.
Rabuka stands for elite and chiefs; Bainimarama stands for common iTaukei.
Rabuka leads corrupt politicians; Bainimarama had law and order.
If Charlie Charters still cannot see the difference between the governments of Rabuka and Bainimarama then he must be deaf, dumb and blind.
Charlie big fat bolt Charters is a legend in his own mind. He is an irrelevant obese idiot who makes frequent false accusations against anyone he doesn’t like. He can’t even smell the coffee even if he was in Brazil.
I had said this a few days ago. Rabuka is offering small heads on a plate to distract his own ethno nationalists racist from rebelling against him. The groundswell against Rabuka even by his own thug mob has got him seriously worried. Because for the first time he is getting flack from the very people who have been his political life line over the last 4 decades. They want the report released. Buka the baku doesn’t want it released. Not because he’s protected biman or manoa or wylie or temo or any other outlaw. But simply because the report is also very critical of him. He can’t stand to lose face especially with his uneducated racist support base. Buka will fight tooth and nail and pull out every trick in the book not to release the report. Otherwise he will face embarrassment of literally global proportions.
And if the military really did ask for the full report to be made public then we have an epic showdown coming up with Buka’s resistance. The baritone will increase in timber as he tries to bullshit his way out of yet another of his umpteenth disasters over almost the last 40 years. This excuse for a human being has been nothing but disastrous for Fiji and all Fijians and especially for his own racist ethno nationalist lot who he has been deceiving for just as long.
Of course along the way we have consider some very important side issues such as, PuLewai was acting deputy commissioner when she fled fiji. Has the same position been offered to her or will she be offered the commissioners job? Will she just be given the job or will she actually apply for it since it will be a new position for her? Will others be allowed to apply for it? Will the illegality of Fotofili being absorbed back in the judiciary as a magistrate be challenged by anyone or the military? Will Barbara get full pay while she is suspended and how long will the suspension be? Will PuleIwai get the top job whilst Barbara is on suspension? Will two salaries be paid out just as it was done with the CJ and police commissioner positions? Has Biman got spare money to do this? There are many other pertinent questions that Baku will avoid.
But the clincher for me is that the acting commissioner Rokoika illegally announced by baku a few days ago is actually the lawyer for the former fisheries minister who was charged for corruption. She recently won the case for her client but fICAC is appealing the case. In true to form Rabuka-inspired chaos, Rokoika is now the head of the very institution that is appealing the case against a former minIster who she is legally representing.
So smell the coffee, Charlie. You know f**kall about what’s happening in Fiji.
BTW Charlie big fat bolt Charters.. Wylie now says he wasn’t there on ill fated day as Barbara’s legal rep. It’s a wonder he hasn’t stated this before.
But that aside, what the f**k was he doing there with the other lawyers in the first place? What was Amani Bale, Vaurasi and others doing there?
Wylie is trying to suggest that he was there to uphold the law as the law society president. But why has he or anyone else from the law society not bothered to ensure the law was followed on so many other instances where this bullshit govt has blatantly broken the law or trashed the constitution. What sort of double standard f**kwitry is this?
Stop your bias and go for run. Come to think of it i cant even recall one instance where you gleefully jumped on any of Rabuka’s outlandish and illegal defiance of the law.
Never thought I would hear myself say this…please lock Khaiyum in a room and bring back Bainimarama. Even if he doesn’t understand GDP.
You seem to be stuck in the past! A lot has changed since GDP. Now, there is a COI Report that will lock up your favorite people first before Khaiyum gets locked.
Lavi Rokoika Vakalalabure is the sister in law of both the Fiji Sports Council Chairman and Fiji Pine Chairman. Ficac had raided Fiji Sports Council in May. He is Sitiveni Rabuka’s closest friend together with Sakiusa Raivoce. One is the fixer the other is the banker to Rabuka’s Rolex bribes. The new acting FICAC Commissioner is there to protect Rabuka and his best friend Vakalalabure. The three brothers have been involved with the takeover of Labasa and Savusavu Police Stations while the Fiji Pine brother was sworn in as George Speight’s AG in 2000. There is more corruption with this unlawful appointment of Lavi.
Wylie is a dimwit. It’s time he was stood down from his FLS position. He is (Eds. section redacted for legal reasons) and a disgrace to the profession. The man has lost whatever credibility he had left. If he wasn’t there to represent Malimali then he certainly was at the FICAC office to obstruct and interfere in the work of FICAC.
Let’s not forget the other dickhead Richard Naidu who should also be charged for interfering in FICAC investigations. This numbnut considers himself a champion of human rights and a constitutional expert. Yeah right!!!
The whole team that turned up at FICAC to prevent Malimali from being charged must be charged as well. Laurel Vaurasi (Vosarogo’s fling) Tuifagalele ( a has been), Amani Bale (Malimali’s former intimate partner) must not be allowed to escape this. And don’t forget the lapdog Bainivalu who is always inside Temo’s sulu sucking up to him.
It was a good thing the previous Govt made the FLS irrelevant. The actions of the FLS lawyers confirms that these clowns are incompetent as f**k.
The FLS does not represent the views of all the lawyers of Fiji. Just check their membership and you will see how many members FLS has and reconcile that with the lawyers on the Roll of Lawyers.
Leung was not merely a loyal Attorney General but part of a faction quietly working against Prime Minister Rabuka’s leadership. His distancing from the Prime Minister, notably not sitting beside him in Parliament weeks before his dismissal, and the behind-the-scenes maneuvering around the appointment of Malimali, point to a potential conspiracy to undermine Rabuka’s authority.
Leung’s removal, then, appears less like a sudden purge and more like the unraveling of a covert power play.
For those with access to Facebook (unfortunately Grubsheet hasn’t), on his Facebook page Jioji Savou “lectures” Charlie Charters on the concept of conflict of interest in relation to the president of the Fiji law society and his involvement in Barbara Malimali’s case and Wylie’s recent comments in the Fiji Times. The exchange between Savou and Charters is great reading – Savou painstakingly and patiently reasons with Charters. I don’t know how Savou manages to keep up his multiple daily commentary and analysis whilst holding his day job – which I assume is in the legal profession.
In my observation the FLS president and other lawyers who have been prominent in recent years have not stuck to their professional remit but almost got into being freelance mercenaries in dual roles of lawyers and goons serving their clients and benefactors beyond being legal practitioners…like heading economic committees and making taxation recommendations for the govt to follow.
According to the President of the FLS it is ok for the government, the PM, the A-G and ministers to make up laws as they go in appointing people. and in other matters like prosecuting the former PM and members of the former government. But when it comes to dismissing his clients, it is not ok to make the laws as they go. Especially when it affects him and his clients. So according to the president of the FLS one law for others and another law for themselves depending on one’s prejudices.
Whittled down, this COI helps us truly understand the renderings of our society today, given the levels of unbridled connivance to bend rules to cover one’s misdeeds. Truly beyond belief to make sense of the bold actions of key leaders and high-ranking officials who, with audacious determination, interfered with a problem that was already well known and clearly defined from the outset.
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