By Abiola Olawale
A former Fijian Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama, has been handed a one-year jail term over his involvement in interfering in a criminal investigation while he headed the government of his South Pacific island nation.
The presiding judge of the High Court of Fiji, Chief Justice Salesi Temo, in a judgment delivered on Thursday, convicted the 70-year-old politician for attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Similarly, the court sentenced the suspended Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho to a 2-year prison term on a conviction for abuse of office.
It would be recalled that Bainimarama had led his government for 16 years, first as a military dictator following a 2006 coup and then as a prime minister who was democratically elected in 2014 and 2018. After the 2022 election, he was succeeded by Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, who also first seized power as a coup leader in 1987.
Bainimarama was prime minister in 2019 when he ended a police investigation into allegations of financial mismanagement at the University of the South Pacific.
The university administration had filed cases of funding abuse and mismanagement that they said had been going on for a decade.
Prosecutors alleged the prime minister and police commissioner ended an active police investigation into former university staff members. Prosecutors said police were continuing their investigation and could lay more charges.
Meanwhile, speaking with the media, Bainimarama’s legal team said they would appeal the judgment and have their client released on bail pending an appeals court hearing.
