Margot
Staunton, Senior Journalist
Any hopes
Fiji’s former Prime Minister had of a political comeback
fizzled on Thursday when he was convicted in the Suva High
Court of another corruption charge.
Frank Bainimarama
– who originally seized power in a military coup in 2006 –
was found guilty of one count of unwarranted demand by a
public official.
He is the first person in Fiji to be
convicted under this specific charge, according to a
statement by the Office of the Director of Public
Prosecutions (ODPP).
The former military commander
could face up to 12 years in jail, which is the maximum
penalty for the offence.
In April, Bainimarama’s
right-hand man claimed it was possible he could contest the
general election next year.
Former Attorney General
Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum told RNZ Pacific at the time that
Bainimarama hoped to have his earlier conviction for
perverting the course of justice quashed by the Court of
Appeal.
Sayed-Khaiyum claimed the people wanted
Bainimarama back and this would pave the way for him to
stand in the election.
However, High Court Judge
Thurshara Rajasinghe found Bainimarama guilty on Thursday of
making an unwarranted demand with menace to the then-Acting
Police Commissioner Rusiate Tudravu.
A statement
released by the ODPP said that between 21 May 2021 and 18
August 2021, the former prime minister threatened to remove
Tudravu from his job unless he sacked two police officers,
namely Sergeant Penieli Ratei and Police Constable Tomasi
Naulu.
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In the same court proceeding, Justice
Rajasinghe acquitted the then-Police Commissioner Sitiveni
Qiliho of two counts of abuse of office.
It was
alleged that Qiliho had abused his authority between 5 and
18 August 2021 ordering the termination of the two police
officers’ jobs.
Bainimarama’s case has been adjourned
for mitigation and sentencing submissions next Thursday, 9
October.
He is expected to be sentenced on 14
October.
A decision on whether the prosecution will
appeal the acquittal of Qiliho is yet to be
made.
Bainimarama was head of Fiji’s military in 2006
when he staged the country’s fourth coup in 20
years.
He deposed the late Prime Minister Laisenia
Qarase and became Prime Minister in 2007.
However,
Bainimarama returned Fiji to democracy with a general
election in 2014.
His now-deregistered FijiFirst Party
had a landslide victory in that election, the first in eight
years.
But the administration was accused of being
dictatorial due to allegations of bullying, intimidation of
opponents, human rights abuses, and suppression of the
media.
He won the election for a second time in 2018,
but only managed to secure a little over 50 percent of the
total votes to lead a majority government.
Bainimarama
attempted to consolidate his power as Fiji’s longest-serving
Prime Minister in 2022, while going up against his
arch-rival, former military strongman and coup leader
Sitiveni Rabuka.
However, despite being the largest
party in parliament, he failed to secure the majority of
seats and a coalition government was needed. The result
hinged on kingmaker Viliame Gavoka, then-leader of the
Social Democratic Liberal Party (Sodelpa).
Sodelpa
chose to go into a coalition with Rabuka’s People’s Alliance
and the National Federation Party, and ousted Bainimarama’s
government ending his 16-year reign.
Bainimarama
resigned from parliament in March 2023 after copping a three
year suspension for sedition.
He was jailed in May
last year, alongside Qiliho, for perverting the course of
justice.
The two were involved in blocking a police
investigation involving the University of the South Pacific
in 2021.
However, Bainimarama was released from prison
last November, just six months into his one-year sentence,
following a comprehensive review by the Fiji Corrections
Service (FCS).
In a statement, the FCS said that
section 46(3) of the Corrections Act, allowed for early
release of inmates based on specific criteria that ensure
both the security of the community and the facilitation of
an inmate’s reintegration.
Qiliho was released from
jail on 8 September this
year.
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