We can be sure that there is shock and consternation on the part of everyone from the Chief Justice, Salesi Temo, down at the news that the Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, is appealing Justice Dane Tuiqereqere’s decision to quash the findings of the Ashton-Lewis Commission of Inquiry into the appointment of Barbara Malimali as Acting FICAC Commissioner.
While he had the power to appoint Tuiqereqere to hear the Malimali case in the High Court, Temo doesn’t have control of the Court of Appeal, which will now hear the case.
It has its own President – Justice Isikeli Mataitoga – who will choose a panel of judges to hear the PM’s appeal who don’t owe anything to Temo. Which is why a wave of fear will be sweeping the ranks of those, including Temo, who were adversely named by Justice David Ashton-Lewis in his CoI Report.
In the case of Temo, it was an allegation of perjury and perverting and obstructing the course of justice. The CJ thought all that was behind him when the man he handpicked for the Malimali case, Dane Tuiqereqere, declared the CoI null and void. It ain’t null and void now. Far from it. And the same goes for everyone else, including Malimali herself and the President of the Fiji Law Society, Wylie Clarke.
The following Fiji Village story suggests that the PM will only be appealing those sections of the Tuiqereqere ruling relating to him but Tuiqereqere also criticised the President, Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu, so where that leaves him isn’t immediately clear.
In any event, anyone can appeal the judgment and that may well eventually include Justice David Ashton-Lewis himself if a wider appeal isn’t pursued by Rabuka. So it isn’t over until the appeal judges sing, including the brace of foreigners listed below. And as the PM suggests, it may even end up in the Supreme Court – Fiji’s highest.
The Prime Minister is staking not only his reputation but his job on winning his action, saying that he will resign if he loses. He has faced down much of the iTaukei establishment, including the likes of Ro Naulu Mataitini (see previous article) and his own deputy, Manoa Kamikamica, who will also be acutely worried about the implications of the Tuiqereqere decision being overturned.
We await more details and clarification of precisely what the scope of the appeal will be. But it is an astonishing development and especially with the election looming. More analysis in due course.
All the judges of the Fiji Court of Appeal seems to be vulagis. That is not right in the eyes of most Fijians. They believe that Fijians should be the judge of their own destiny and not be determined by vulagis. So the discredited CJ Temo must be livid.
But I reckon the PM and the President should resign immediately and not wait for the outcome of the appeal. Simply because they both are incompetent, senile and a waste of space. They have already done a lot of damage to Fiji. They should not be in their positions one more minute, I believe.
99.9% of Fijians don’t have a clue.
When two Fijians have a disagreement, they will thank God and the fact Fiji has some vulagi’s to judge vulagi law and come to a unbiased, fair decision.
CJ Temo is the justification for having vulagi judges.
D Tuiqereqere is the justification for having vulagi judges.
What’s the alternative, Cakobau’s Club.
Why do you think they cancelled the COI? It was brought down by a vulagi judge. I know because that is what the locals tell me. They do not wish Fiji’s destiny to be determined by vulagis. That is a fact. When I ask about the vulagi religion and a vulagi God….. silence.
And all this has nothing to do with fairness and justice. It is all about right wing idiots keeping power. From the GCC to the corrupt judiciary and a corrupt government, and all this has been allowed under the watch of the PM. He obviously also wants the same, but allowing the crooks a free hand so far will come back to bite him immensely very soon.
We, the people and tax payers of Fiji would like to know why a tax holiday was granted to a foreign owned extractive corporation.
Immediate action for the new governement:
1. Cost of living
2. Tax holiday and other bad governance
3. Sort out tourism industry as getting too hard taxed.