The expatriate Fiji-born journalist and academic, Victor Lal, casts himself as “Editor-in-Chief of Fijileaks’ when like Grubsheet, his is a one-man operation from his home on the outskirts of the famous British university city of Oxford. But he is still a powerhouse of information and specialises in material leaked to him by his many sources in Fiji, some of whom go back to his days as one of the rare Indo-Fijian students at Ratu Kadavulevu School and others from his distinguished career in journalism in Suva.
But here’s one story you won’t be reading on Fijileaks because Victor Lal is desperate to keep it secret – how he is assisting the Judicial Services Commission and its head, the rogue Chief Justice, Salesi Temo, in their campaign to trash the Ashton-Lewis Supreme Court Commission of Inquiry into the Malimali affair.
It’s now Grubsheet’s sorry duty to turn the tables on Victor Lal and leak the extraordinary contents of his complaint of misconduct against Justice David Ashton-Lewis plus accompanying correspondence to the Police Commissioner, Rusiate Tudravu. It shows that Victor Lal has sided with his British compatriot, Charlie Charters, in feeding Salesi Temo and the JSC the ammunition they presumably think he needs to upend the Commission of Inquiry.
Sadly for Victor Lal, not only has he been exposed but the tactic isn’t going to work. Why? Because his complaint doesn’t relate to any of the substance of the findings of the COI but allegations that Justice Ashton Lewis “may have” misrepresented some of his accomplishments, including allegedly claiming a “false royal honour”.
Who cares? Victor Lal obviously cares a great deal. But Rusiate Tudravu is said to be totally unmoved – something Victor, who I’ve long regarded as a friend, would do well to ponder as he undoubtedly deals with the gross embarrassment of his entire correspondence being leaked.
Why it is embarrassing? Because Victor Lal has sided with the crocodiles and has been exposed. And according to Grubsheet’s own sources, nothing that he has reported here will have any bearing on the current police and FICAC investigations into the allegations raised by the CoI Report.
They are being regarded as irrelevant, which is as it should be. The Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, is already on the public record as having said that none of the accusations against Justice Ashton Lewis will have any bearing on the CoI recommendations. He was appointed a Supreme Court judge not because he is Lord Muck or has a personal coat of arms but because he was a respected High Court Judge in Fiji in the 1990s.
So unfortunately for Victor Lal, this is an own goal of monumental proportions. Because however much he cloaks himself in the virtue of holding truth to power, many of his readers will see it as a betrayal of the national interest and the absolute imperative of using the CoI’s findings to rid the pond of the crocodiles and root out the widespread corruption it has exposed.
He has given comfort to the CoI’s enemies – including Justice Temo and those government ministers currently under investigation. And he must have known that what he was doing had the potential to derail the Inquiry altogether. Instead, it has blown up in his face and like many of his victims over the years, Victor Lal has been exposed. And for what?
This is a sideshow to the main event. And Victor has emerged as a sideshow act. Which is unfortunate for someone who takes himself so seriously and is ordinarily a credible journalist who Grubsheet has long respected and admired.
Our role as journalists is surely to report and critique events for the benefit of our readers, not occupy centre stage with the main players in any national drama, let alone be secret complainants or police informers. Why hasn’t Victor Lal published the following on Fijileaks? That’s what his readers will be asking.
NOTE: Grubsheet has reached out to Victor Lal for comment and will publish his response when we receive it.
NOTE: Some of the latter part of this correspondence may be out of sequence or missing. But it does not affect the integrity of the document as a whole.
Victor Lal’s complaint has no relevance to COI findings.
PM/President should have released the findings to the public within a matter of days of receiving it and not wait till the report was already in public domain, before reluctantly releasing it.
All the tainted people including CJ/public officials should have been stood down without pay and police inquiries commenced without any delay. Ministers should have been sent to the backbench.
The police commissioner should conclude his investigations ASAP. The office of DPP should recruit an impartial overseas prosecutor to review the police reports and commence prosecution.
Finally, given that Rabuka/Naiqama are celebrating Fiji Independence Day in Australia/USA, keep proving to the public how incompetent they are in positions they are holding, and are unable to walk without the aid of a walking stick, they should be made to quit their positions and go back to Cakaudrove to serve their people in whatever position the people see fit.
Enough is enough !!
Victor! Victor! Victor!
My father utmost respect for you.
He must be looking down from above and wondering how many long loaves you have swallowed.
Those of us who have followed Victor’s leaks for decades are often disappointed with his apparent lack of fact checks and verifying information.
He believes his ‘trusted’ sources, most of who are his former mates and cronies who have somehow hoodwinked him into believing them, as gospel.
One classic example is Robin Nair, former Ambassador and Fiji Foreign Affairs Secretary, who used Victor’s column to vent his own frustrations with his colleagues and the Government which was employing him. Talk about ‘snakes’.
He always took a grim view of icons like late Dr Brij Lal, and once he has decided he will vilify someone, he is not prepared to see any positives in the person. Rather unfortunate trait.
There are other examples of the single mindedness of Victor and his inability to analyse and critique information.
Isa, This is Mahabharat — GD vs. VL. From the greatest epic in the world, the Bhagvat Gita, When brothers or fraternities fight, the only winner is their common enemy. A war of attrition. Hopefully, wisdom returns before it’s too late. You guys just made Linda Tabyua, Biman Prasad and Siti Rabuka’s day! Just like the Fiji elections when opposition cannot unite.
Sad but true. Oh well. The crocodiles win. It’s what Victor and his mate Charlie think the country deserves. I don’t. But what would I know?
The Chief Justice is tonight the Acting President in Ratu Naiqama’s absence in the US. So it’s hardly worth Inia Seruiratu again calling on the President to suspend the CJ. He’s hardly likely to suspend himself.
Welcome to Fiji, eh? Where the crocodiles are winning and our two heroic anti CoI crusaders live 16,000 kilometers away in Oxford and Yorkshire. Go figure. They say ignorance is bliss but distance is clearly even more blissful. Because they don’t have to live in the pond with the crocs.
@Fijian Mahabharata, if this is indeed, Mahabharata in a corner of Fiji, then I would say that Graham Davis is the righteous one, Arjuna, who is forced to take up the sword, guess his own kin. Aruna was riddled with doubt. This is what his charioteer, Lord Krishna, told him on the Battlefield:
“Do your duty with clarity and detachment. Stand for what is right, even if those opposing you are your own kin. Act without hatred, but with conviction — the battle itself is not of ego, but of dharma.”
In essence: Fight the right battle, for the right reason, without losing yourself in anger or guilt.
That’s Krishna’s timeless counsel — to act with purpose, balance, and moral clarity even when the world around you turns hostile.
Due credit to GD – he had held on to his principles of a democratic and multicultural Fiji even when those he supported were only pretenders, including the present government. GD has been steadfast even when the world around him turned hostile.
I don’t feel righteous. Just very disappointed. But thank you. Very kind of you.
So what’s in it for you Victor Lal. Indemnity, you can visit Fiji without fear of reprisal, that’s it isn’t it Victor. You have betrayed the people of Fiji and embarrassed us Kaidias, another Biman Prasad. Shame on you, you horrible person.
I have always maintained, there is not a single person in Fiji (apparently outside Fiji as well) that can be trusted. It is not limited to the G11 and all the “prominent lawyers” in Fiji.
I think it runs in the Fijian DNA.