The news that Wylie Clarke has been reappointed President of the Fiji Law Society despite the grave allegations of criminal conduct against him by the Supreme Court Commission of Inquiry says a great deal about the collapse of public standards of conduct in Fiji.
It isn’t in the least bit surprising because Clarke and the cabal of senior lawyers around him in Suva who control these matters have come to demonstrate a great deal of tolerance for unlawful conduct. Yet the vote in “Wylie Coyote’s” favour was far from unanimous, which tells us that some lawyers, at least, still have standards of probity and are willing to take a stand for principle.
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What Vijay Narayan typically doesn’t tell us is contained in the following extract of the COI Report, in which Justice David Ashton Lewis finds there is enough evidence against Wylie Clarke relating to the events of last September 5, when he was part of the posse that moved in to protect Barbara Malimali and remove Francis Puleiwai from FICAC for him to be investigated for serious criminal conduct.
Yet with the following hanging over his head, the members of the Fiji Law Society have sided with the accused, not the Supreme Court Judge, and have chosen Wylie Clarke to lead them again.
So “tactics of intimidation and bullying” and allegedly breaching the Crimes Act are just what the nation’s lawyers are looking for in their President. There has never been any question in their minds that Wylie Clarke should step aside while the allegations against him are tested in the usual manner. No, who cares what the CoI has found? Good old Wylie is innocent. And what’s good for him is good for the rest of us.
As you can see, it was hardly a resounding vote of confidence – 80 votes for Wylie Clarke and 39 votes for Dorsami Naidu, who had publicly called for Clarke to stand aside until he was cleared but was rebuffed by his fellow members
It still means that a third of the 119 lawyers in private practice who voted backed the guy demanding proper process and accountability. Will that lead to a split in the FLS and defections? We shall see. But it is nonetheless depressing to see that two-thirds of them don’t give a damn for proper process and accountability. Wylie and his glee club say he is innocent and the Judge is a fraud. So it must be true, eh?
It defies all logic and normal practice in other jurisdictions such as Australia and New Zealand but there you go. That’s Fiji. You can be accused of criminal conduct by a judge of the highest court in the land and still soldier on at the apex of the legal profession with the support of your colleagues – a stellar example for young Fijians entering the profession.
We can take a modicum of comfort, I guess, from the fact that 39 members of the FLS decided that Dorsami Naidu is correct. It isn’t acceptable. If only we could have their names, Fiji, so we know which lawyers genuinely support proper process and the rule of law and we can take our business to them. But that’s not going to happen either.
A cabal of well-heeled local lawyers at the top of the establishment and close to the Coalition decide what goes down in the Fiji Law Society and they want Wylie, not Dorsami. And that, my friends, is that.
And why do they want Wylie? Because they want David Ashton-Lewis out, they want Barbara Malimali back in and they want the likes of Biman Prasad and Manoa Kamikamica to remain unmolested, however serious the allegations against them. Because they are all in the crocodile pond together.
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For the background to this sorry saga, read on…
Or for the time poor, the essentials from our most recent report:
Not his buddy Charlie no white long loaf Charters commenting on issues pertaining to the law society.
Like my brother, go increase the wages for the women in the bakery and increase the supply of white long loaf. You talk so much shit on issues but can’t fix a simple issue in the bakery.
Boy I tell you this kind of people are special. Having interest in their own agenda rather than trying to fix Fijian issues.
For Wylie, he should have stepped aside the moment he was implicated but the bar of lawyers isn’t really high. We did have NFP counsels during the Constitutional matter mislead the court that if a referendum legislation didn’t exist simply means the drafters had no intention to amend the Constitution.
Like my brother, behind those fancy sunglasses you wore, you couldn’t do a simple research on the creation of the Constitution in Australia and the timeline for the referendum creation in Australia or even NZ?
If a lawyer representing Khaiyum or Bainimarama had made such an egregious claim in Court, Charlie No White Long Loaf Charters would have published 25 posts on his Facebook by now.
Charlie, I know you will read this. Care to elaborate how many bakery staff are being paid enough to take a luxury vacation to Europe or Singapore?
We know you globetrotter you. But women who work for you?
In many jurisdictions,including NSW, a person serves as Law Society President for a single term. In Fiji it is like political leaders who want to rule forever. Those with memory will recall Dr Sahu Khan who was President for some time. See what happened to him. I suppose it boils down to…you deserve the people you voted for- even for lawyers.
Charlie Charters is an overgrown loser who first needs to address the corruption his late mother in law was involved in. As for Wylie Clarke, nothing lasts forever. Time will come and then D Day. GD, you continue to publish articles that Fijians need to read and understand. Well done to you.
There is no good reason for Wylie to continue holding this post. Junior lawyers constantly struggle to break through the limits placed by senior lawyers. Wylie should have stepped aside and let fresh blood take a chance at giving FLS a shirt.
By the way when did Wylie last do something significant for Junior lawyers? Most are overworked and underpaid. Never heard FLS advocate for Junior lawyers.
Wiley Clarke – the name says it all.
Except in this case Road Runner is too obese to run.
In a now free Fiji, people have the freedom to make their own laws as they go. That is a God-given entitlement in your own land. Isn’t freedom great. The freedom to be stupid is the greatest gift one can have.
But then, how long will all the pretence last?
The members that voted (119) would appear to be a very small percentage of the number of practicing lawyers in Fiji. Approx 10% in my estimation based on the public statement made by the previous AG on the number of lawyers in Fiji…and not all persons qualified as lawyers have practicing certificates and membership of the FLS obviously does not include all lawyers. So it’s a very small representation of the lawyers in Fijian society. But membership and voting is not mandatory – the low numbers may suggest apathy or lack of interest in participating by the champions (or peddlers) of justice in society.
Dorsami Naidu has got his own ambitions in becoming President of FLS as well. He has been trying (unsuccessfully) to create his own political party after his disaster of an attempt to take leadership of NFP in 2023 after getting a paltry number of votes in 2022. And mind you, this was in August 2023 before any issues came up regarding Biman. Trying to oust the leadership that brought the party back into government after almost 40 years was not a good look on him at all. Either way, I would prefer neither Wylie or Naidu as President of FLS but that is the sorry state of the bar in this country that those two are in the running in the first place.
The entirety of FLS is a disaster show masquerading as a legitimate organisation. The FijiFirst government ripped the teeth off of the lawyers of the society a long time ago. It was and is a toothless tiger that is just now trying to grow back its teeth after almost 2 decades in the wilderness.
The whole cabal is dubious. We continue to see high office holders called out for their suspicious behaviour continue with their activities without any accountability. 😶🌫️
It is same as narcotics police officers themselves involved in trafficking!🤔
Now, the icing on the cake is Minister for Social Welfare and Poverty Alleviation is very asset and cash rich. Go figure all the speeches made about people needing to work hard?
One person features prominently in all of this…your nemesis…Mr “I have means”.
Pathetic and shameful indeed.
Fiji style PPP as economists like to say … Public Private Partnership, not for economic growth but in breaking down law and order.
In the all-Taukei public corner is Temo and his seconds, Bainivalu, Tikoisuva, Rabuku, Tabuakoro and Malimali, while in the all-Vulagi private corner is Clarke and his supporters, R (not D) Naidu, Charters, Parkinson and Narayan.
Outcome: no contest at all as the two sides are not competing but complementing each other. A genuine Taukei-Vulagi PPP at work.
A very observant observation. Vinaka.
No one person can be elected President of the Fiji Law Society without the backing of the Indigenous Fijian Lawyers’ Association who form the majority of lawyers in Fiji.
Keu players in it are the usual Coalition luminaries like Filimoni Vosarogo,, Simione Valenitabua, Barbara Malimali Tanya Waqaniika, etc etc.
Dorsami Naidu tried but had no chance.
Indigenous Fijian Lawyers Association? Really? I guess the vulagi cannot be a member of this association? Is this the norm in Fiji? No one bats an eye lid with such a race based thing………..except me?
Is there a Fijian Teachers Association, a Fijian Doctors Association and a Fijian Accountants Association? How much more stupid can the people of Fiji get? And how much more such things are there which I am unaware of?
There is a fijian teachers association if I’m not wrong. Some people think creating or joining a race based organization will further their cause..somehow.
The country has lots and lots of V.I.P’s….Vagabonds In Power.
Would it be remiss of me to observe that Fiji is full of crooks, starting at the very top, from The President and PM to the guys on the streets.
The whole country is all f*cked up. But the amazing thing is people are very proud to be crooks. Must be a cultural thing.
Between the PM and guys in the streets are lawyers who can also be wrong doers, including crooks. Both taukei and vulagi lawyers, and high flying ones for that matter.
Court splits $500k fine https://share.google/zh1acHRnhZ8TsqkW9
GUILTY YOUR LORDSHIP. The new A-G Filimoni VOSAROGO, defending his appointment, claims that the ILSC makes orders, not findings of guilt. If so, why did he plead GUILTY before ILSC thrice, in 2013, 2017 and 2022 https://share.google/aKyKi4c1J4oaK4IML
Unf**kingbelievable. It demonstrates the morals, values, principles, and level of integrity that the lawyers in Fiji have, or rather lack of it. No wonder the whole justice system is f**ked.
You’d have thought that Wanker Wylie would have at least had some iota of shame left in him and just stood down and not put his hands up for re-election.
Explains a lot about where the younger lawyers are getting their “inspiration” from.
The way Wylie, Bainivalu and Vaurasi came out of the FICAC office with Malimali in tow was something. Acting like big swinging dicks. Their arrogance stank.
It was good to see them brought down to earth in the COI and it’ll be a pity if these arrogant pricks don’t get charged.
Wylie’s reelection reveals the web of political corruption and rot in Fiji and how the Fiji Law Society is so embedded into it.
Wylie and his posse rescued Malimali, to rescue Bastard Biman, who is in cahoots with Bastard Richard Naidu, whom he appointed fiscal review committee chairperson to effect 15% vat. The rest, as they say, is history. Baiman got his tax increase, Richard’s firm Munro Leys’ client Fiji Water got a whopping 7 year tax holiday, and Munro Leys got the Aspen contract.
Political connections and legalized corruption. All this under Rabuka’s nose. The old fart is not fit to be PM as he is party to the selling out of resource owner’s interest by Richard Naidu. They are all mother effing traitors.
Meanwhile the military commander, like Sashi Kiran, is shedding tears at the drop of a hat and busy reconciling while the country is goes to the dogs..
Fiji getting screwed in both the front and rear and the army commander. Is busy hugging, kissing and weeping.
Bloody disgusting and ridiculous.
Can anyone help me with why there are 15 government vehicles parked outside PAPI headquarters?
How does that align with Ro Filipe’s concern regarding the misuse of government vehicles?
Or was that concern more BS served piping hot by the Wesley media.