 "Was any form of payment made for the apparently sudden decision to buy Airbus rather than sticking to an earlier decision to purchase Boeing aircraft? We have received reliable reports about a number of other issues...The taxpayers are the ultimate majority shareholders of our national carrier. We therefore urge Fiji Airways, its Chairman & directors and the Minister responsible for Civil Aviation to meet their obligation to be open and transparent with the people of Fiji and respond to the points raised". Former Minister of State for Youth & Sport Rajesh Singh in partnership with Australian based consortium Majestic Fiji Corporation bid to rescue |
Consortium's Expression of Interest: |  The ghostly incomplete Momi Bay |
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Meanwhile, no sign of casino from One Hundred Sands Ltd despite having secured exclusive 15 year license from Aiyaz Khaiyum to provide casino gaming operations in Fiji; Khaiyum's aunty Nur Ali Bano company's accountant
Editor: Read also Victor Lal's investigation: Khaiyum-Bainimarama rolled out false casino dice: One Hundred Sands Ltd began as purveyor of agricultural produce and ‘deer farmers’ with no experience as multi-million dollar casino operator. The regime’s illegal pay mistress Nur Ali Bano and her husband in charge of company’s business accounts.
Qiliho was also behind the death threats to SDL leader and deposed Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase, who received a phone call on 28 August 2007, in which a person who identified himself as calling from the Fiji Military Forces Camp threatened that he (Qarase) would be killed on arrival, if he returned to Suva. The terror thug behind the death threats against Qarase was none other than Sitiveni Tukaituraga Qiliho.
 A TOP New Zealand diplomat who died last year has left behind a sharply undiplomatic book revealing how Fiji’s military strongman personally threatened “to get him” and describes the regime as one characterised by intimidation and thuggery. Michael Green in 2009 became the first New Zealand diplomat to be declared persona non grata when coup leader Voreqe Bainimarama ordered him out as high commissioner. The book titled Persona Non Grata: Breaking the Bond – New Zealand and Fiji 2004-2007, will be launched on June 27 at the Victoria University in New Zealand. According to the website www.cid.org.nz, the Speaker at the event would be Rt. Hon. Winston Peters. Green, who died last year of cancer, writes of the secret advice he was giving Wellington during the 2006 democracy ending military coup. His tough worded criticism of Bainimarama’s “volatile personality” is likely to anger Suva again. Fiji is “characterised by intimidation and thuggery, arbitrary and vindictive dismissals, abandonment of principles and personal betrayals, official misinformation and media censorship, and the deliberate perversion of state institutions.” Green, watching the conspiring leading to Fiji’s fourth coup, lived next door to Bainimarama. As the crisis deepened, they quietly had New Zealand Police posted to Suva to prepare for “the possibility that an evacuation of citizens.” When police put a radio aerial on the roof of the residence, Bainimarama complained they were spying on him. By November 2006 Green heard from credible sources that the Fiji Police were planning to arrest Bainimarama for sedition and disobeying lawful orders. Bainimarama instead made a series of demands and threatened a coup.He went to New Zealand on a private visit for the first communion of a grand child but “got it into his head” that New Zealand would arrest him. “He phoned (Defence Attache) Al MacKinnon to him that that, if he should be arrested, his ‘boys’ would be sent over the fence into the Residence to ‘get me’.”The threats were taken seriously and mission families were sent home. Then Foreign Minister Winston Peters told Bainimarama would not be arrested in Wellington. Green said the commander was never interested in negotiations, and pocketed every concession with no reciprocity. After the coup took place, New Zealand imposed a ban on all regime officials visiting. Bainimarama rang up a high commission official and said “tell your high commissioner to watch out for retaliation.” Green cites a “Muslim Coup” aspect of 2006 in which Nazhat Shameem, a high court judge, and her sister Shaista of the Fiji Human Rights Commission, advised Bainimarama’s secretive military council. Shaista is now a Grey Lynn lawyer. Another Muslim lawyer Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum was also involved. “In due course all three were to be beneficiaries of the coup.” In June 2007 Green made a speech about democracy and the coup and received a call saying Bainimarama did not like it. Then the Junior All Blacks arrived in Suva to play Fiji. Green was invited to sit in President Josefa Iloilo’s tent to watch. It turned out he had a better seat than that given to Bainimarama and Sayed-Khaiyum who were directly behind some New Zealand families “One of the children waved a New Zealand flag throughout the game, while another one shook a big, black rubbery artificial finger every time New Zealand scored.” His expulsion order came soon after: “If my role at the rugby was not the reason for my expulsion, I am sure that it was the precipitant. “ Green said Bainimarama has a long record of getting rid of people who challenged him, stood up to him, or crossed him – or were perceived by him to have done so. He is not interested in advice or assistance unless it is to sustain him in power or to implement his agenda in its entirety. “He is uncomfortable with the clash of ideas, negotiation and compromise, all critical elements of effectively functioning democracies.” Green said he doubted Bainimarama would ever deliver on his promises of better governance and genuine democracy. Green said it was plain the Fiji military standards were slipping and its soldiers were old and unfit.Bainimarama had always resisted change or improvement and so the army had a much higher average age than others. Territorials called up during the coup became seriously unwell: “Up to a dozen of them were said to have died.” Sunday Star-Times, New Zealand Click HERE to listen to Michael Green's wife, Gillian, who talks about their years in Fiji - until the unexpected announcement of Michaels' change in diplomatic status to Persona Non Grata (unwelcome person) in 2007. See also Russell Hunter and Victor Lal Fiji police chief tried to get Bainimarama arrested in NZ. And Victor Lal, Why Ratu Joni and Green were told to go; also read below Hunter's new Opinion piece, Election 2014: FIJI voters dreaming! Listen to former NZ Foreign Minister Winston Peters on Green's book and Fiji. Click HERE |
By RUSSELL HUNTER Those in Fiji patiently awaiting their chance to vote out the Bainimarama dictatorship – and there are very many – are dreaming. For there will be no general election in 2014 or any other year – at least not one that the non-China world might recognise as being worthy of the name. Already we see the strategy emerging. The registered political parties, in their advised view, met with the requirements of the Khaiyum decree in that they have declared their personal assets and those of their children – that is, those under the age of 18. Here it seems that Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, not for the first time, has stuffed up the decree, but that should be no incentive for glee among the party faithful. For Khaiyum still holds all the cards. Another correcting decree is not out of the question. Nor is an investigation by the regime-controlled military-police-courts apparatus to eliminate party officials and activists on trumped up charges. For if – read when – Bainimarama can jail or otherwise dismantle all opposition, what need is there for an election? In an echo of the People’s Charter (whatever happened to that?) he would declare himself accepted by the people and carry on business as usual. He will not and cannot sanction any election that contains the remotest risk of his defeat. He might as well offer to swap places with George Speight. Remember, there is still a warrant for his arrest on sedition charges and any independent police force will still want to interview him as their primary person of interest in the November 2000 CRW murders. A bald statement of his acceptance by the people, then, seems the most likely outcome though a rigged election is still possible. For Bainimarama must know by now that he cannot win in any free and fair election – in the internationally accepted sense – gauge of the populace’s will. Of course they’ll smile at his village visits, accept his handouts and praise his “achievements”. But they will not vote for him in a secret ballot. For they know his record – and he knows theirs. Bainimarama famously stated that he did not trust the people and he can hardly complain if he finds that the people reciprocate.  Traditional camouflage: villagers not stupid |   Trial run for rigging? But it will take more than talk to dislodge Bainimarama. “It’s the economy stupid” has become a clichéd quotation but in Bainimarama’s case it’s one to which he ought to pay close attention. For it is more likely than any talk of election to cause his downfall. He’s going to run out of money. Under Bainimarama’s ministership, the sugar industry is in its death throes. The Fiji Sugar Corporation is all but insolvent, depending on the regime for its day to day survival. The $80 a tonne payout will barely keep farmers on the land and even that would have had to be borrowed, most likely from the long suffering FNPF though in the presence of yet another broken pledge – transparency – it’s not possible to be certain. What is sure is that the FSC didn’t have the money. Again under the Bainimarama ministry sugar production has halved. Buyers are turning away and part of last year’s production is still unsold. Propaganda will not save the sugar industry. But Bainimarama’s performance as finance minister is if anything worse. His pledge to slash government borrowing has become a subject of gallows humour as government debt has ballooned in an orgy of borrowing – mostly from China – to fund his ramshackle regime and to keep the squaddies loyal. Again, in the new “transparent” Fiji it’s impossible to be certain of government liabilities but there seems little doubt that state debt as well guarantees of loans by government entities has tripled since 2006. Estimates vary between $5.5 billion and $7+ billion – but even the lower end of the range is a chilling indictment of Bainimarama’s mishandling of a national economy cruelly exposed to world economic conditions. Any downturn will hammer Fiji while an upturn will take time to assist, in however small a way, its import-dominated economy. Meanwhile China seems to have lost much of its appetite for Fiji debt while the new regime seems more likely to place its relationship with Australia much higher than its interest in Fiji. |
| To them, his word is worthless. He is still in their eyes the man who made so many bold promises in his broadcast takeover address of December 5, 2006. He solemnly pledged an election in six months, that no minister in his interim government would stand, that racism would end, that government borrowing would be reined in and, of course that no member of the RFMF would benefit from this coup. He has reneged – spectacularly so – on every one. He has slashed pensions and at the same time looted the nation’s savings for his very dubious schemes. He has alienated the Methodist Church, the mainstream chiefs, even larger sections of his own military. It would be a grave error to imagine that villagers are not aware of this. And Bainimarama’s political record is, to put it mildly, poor. On the day he is dislodged from power, the dictator is likely to face charges that include his laughingly titled Truth and Justice drive during the 2006 election campaign under which batches of soldiers were ordered out into the villages to blatantly campaign against the sitting government and urge villagers to cast their votes instead for a new party. It failed to return a solitary member and its leader lost his deposit, turning up later as the minister for deportations before he discovered some conscience and quit Bainimarama’s illegal regime. What’s more, it’s certain that in 2006 even his own squaddies declined to vote the way he ordered them to. Certainly none voted for his favoured party while overseas voting patterns strongly indicate the soldiers’ support for the SDL. Since then, of course, the troops have enjoyed generous pay rises but Fiji will probably never know if it’s enough to buy their votes. Bainimarama has thumbed his nose at the international community, the European Union, the Commonwealth, the IMF and the world’s labour unions. He thinks he is using the Pacific Forum, especially its Melanesian Spearhead Group, but is in fact used by them while at home his frequent travels, often with a large retinue of family and hangers-on, as well as his constant need for a heavily armed bodyguard team are subjects of much tanoa talk. |  International union pressure Fiji’s economy is also exposed to action by the world labour movement – action that draws closer by the day. Any concerted effort would mean disaster for Bainimarama and blaming it all on Australia won’t help him. He is in effect cornered if that happens. He can’t go back on the trade union decrees and he can’t survive a prolonged effort by the world’s labour organisations. Quite what he or world labour will do remains to be seen. He’s been praying, of course for a change of government in Australia, and his prayers will be answered in September when the Labour government of Julia Gillard (or possibly Kevin Rudd) is removed. But that’s probably as far as it will go. The most likely new foreign minister, Julie Bishop, has talked of re-engagement with Fiji (just as Bob Carr tried to do) but there is as yet no evidence of any intention to overturn policy. And that’s because the very existence of the Bainimarama regime flies in the face of what most Australians, Labour or Liberal, hold dear – democracy, human rights and a fair go for all. Ms Bishop will find it difficult to sell any policy that goes against those group feelings. Indeed she may find it more practical to steer well clear of the issue. For all of those reasons and more 2014 will be a stern test for Voreqe Bainimarama. While his almost certain failure of that test won’t end his regime it will further erode his standing at home and abroad. And with his bag of political capital all but empty he can’t afford that. [email protected] Editor: The article is also on the Opinion page |
 Deposed Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase withRo Kepa at the meeting Introduction Let me first acknowledge our guests and ladies and gentleman whom are here this afternoon on the First meeting of SODELPA Party’s General Assembly. I also acknowledge the officials and members of the Party and I see among us the presence of the last elected Prime Minister, Mr Laisenia Qarase who is here with us for the first time following his period of incarceration. I will say more about this later. I acknowledge the two Vice Presidents: Ratu Silivenusi Waqausa and Ratu Lote Yavuca, senior officials, and members of the Party, ladies and gentlemen, and friends. I like especially to thank the Party for the ceremony they accorded me this afternoon which for me, has come unexpectedly. I thought as being your President, and one who has been with you as part of your team for much of this year, this official task is part of my duty as your President. I know that, as this is really the First Special Meeting of our National Assembly for SODELPA Party, you would like to have it conducted in accordance with indigenous Fijian protocol. Some Trying Times This year, 2013, it has not been an easy year for the Party. The fact that we are sitting together here with the last elected Prime Minister and founder of the Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua (SDL), a body which was really the precursor of SODELPA, but was not allowed to exist with its name, is indicative of some of the hurdles that were placed in our path, some of which no other Party had to endure but which we confronted and overcame with minimum fuss. Two Decrees were placed in our path in order to register as a political party (Decree 4 and Decree 11 of 2013) The Decrees required us to do certain things in order to remain as a political party: to have an English name and not an indigenous Fijian one; to make a fresh application for registration supported by at least 5000 signatures of supporters from all of the four administrative regions of the country; to pay $5005 as application fee; to require party officials to publicly declare all their assets and those of their spouses and children; as well as meet many other requirements during the specified registration period, the breach of which attracted ridiculously high penalties including the threat of de-registration of parties. The requirements for registration and in under the Decrees, according to a group of international Senior Lawyers were among the most restrictive internationally, and they were way out of line with international norms. Despite all these, we were able to get our Party registered on May 6th as a new Party altogether, with a new name, a new abbreviation (SODELPA), a new symbol and a new Constitution .For those who knew the old SDL party would know that many of the principles of the old party are embodied in the new Party and other changes which have been brought in, as part of our response to new requirements of the electoral roll which was reflected in the recommendation of the Peoples Draft Constitution (Ghai Draft, 2012). I understand that we have done so well in getting our Party registered that together with the other three parties, that the Regime is astounded that all the mainline parties are popular that they have been able to sign up members and supporters of at least 5000 voters each within the time period required. Now the Regime is supposedly the only mainline party that is now awaiting registration. The Regime has been subject to calls that they too should now subject themselves to the same rigid application procedures and the unrealistic assets disclosure requirements, that has now become a source of embarrassment to them. The shoe is now on the other foot so to say, and we have been commended by NGO’s and some international partners, in how our political parties have dealt with a difficult situation under the harassment and intimidation of the Regime. In yesterday’s Fiji times (Tuesday,June 18th) for example, the Director of the Citizens Constitutional Forum ,Rev Akuila Yabaki, a noted critic of the then SDL Party wrote in a Letter to the Editor column and said this about the constitution of SODELPA: “ I find it encouraging to note how political parties are making the changes in their constitutions. I have noted for instance how SODELPA Party has made the same transition in its newly revised Constitution. Once a party that avowedly represented the interests of just iTaukei and Rotuman people, it now aims to secure the greatest number of seat in the next general elections and to show exemplary political leadership which reflects the multiracial nature of Fiji society. The Party is determined to forge strong, united and multiracial Fiji and intends to pursue dialogue and negotiation to achieve peaceful solutions to Fiji’s Challenges…” Despite difficult times, our party has been able to do what is required for the task to serve the best interests of our people. Some Necessary Constitutional Amendments: Since we have been registered on May 3rd 2013, we have accelerated our work on the visitation of old branches under the SDL and the setting up of new braches altogether under the SODELPA structure. In this task we face some restrictions and the purpose of this Special Meeting of the National Assembly is to provide greater flexibility in some of the provisions which have been set perhaps too rigidly. In parts, we have provided greater flexibility in the provisions of membership of the Management Board which runs the day to day operation of the Party and its working Committee called the National Executive Committee or NEC. A full list of members of the Management Board has been approved which enables it to function right away given the urgency of the Party to be ‘in full flight’ so to say, for the impending general elections in September 2014. It is also proposed that the Management Board is to appoint a Selection Committee for the Party Leader. The Selection Committee is expected to consult widely and recommend a suitable candidate for final approval by the General Assembly which will recommend a name for approval by the General Assembly. This will be the first Party Leader for SODELPA in what is expected to be one of the most difficult general elections in the twenty six years since 1987. United Front for Democratic Fiji (UFDF) I shall mention perhaps only briefly about the United Front for Democratic Fiji which started as an umbrella organization of then three existing parties: the Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua, the Fiji Labour Party, National Federation Party and the then United Peoples Party of Mr Mick Beddoes which is no longer in operation as it did not meet the requirement s of the recent Political Parties Registration Decree of 2013. However, the remaining political parties continue to exist and SODELPA has replaced the SDL in that organization .This body has also included a Trade Union Body known as Fiji Council of Trade Unions or FICTU. The UFDF is not a political Party as such; it is a broad umbrella organization with a specific purpose in coordinating the actions of the bodies concerned against the Regime and in coordinating the activities of the group in the restoration of democracy in Fiji. Under the difficult situation we are in, the body has served us well and there is a great deal of interest in other like- minded bodies to join it which gives it greater leverage and power to enable the Group to co-or ordinate their activities and for the achievement of its goals. Our Party is strengthened by its involvement with this group and the Management of the Party is kept fully informed about its agenda and activities and through it, the Party maintains its its leadership role in the affairs of the country in line with its size and support in the country, together with other mainline parties and groups. Given the situation we are in, I have faith that the outcome of the work of this group will be beneficial to the Party and to all our people in our efforts to bring back democracy to our land. Where to from here? I do not have a crystal ball to see what lies ahead but it is becoming very clear that the Regime has failed the people of Fiji in coming up with a Constitution in the time they had promised. Instead of June 2013, they are now talking about September which is hardly a year before their widely publicized election date. They had scrapped what would have been an excellent constitution which correctly reflected the wishes of the majority of the people of Fiji which was referred to as the Peoples Draft (or Ghai Draft,2012). They had also scrapped the Constituent Assembly set up initially to consider the Peoples Draft, and in doing so they have remove the last effective and meaningful mechanism to safeguard the interest of the people in a democracy. What is left therefore, is only the whims of the regime and everywhere in the world where this happens, they usually act in their own interest, and not in the best interest of the people. This is where the Party is looking at various actions and options like a referendum for example, as a means of guaranteeing that whatever constitution is imposed on the people is also acceptable to the people, and nothing less! I am comforted by the fact that the Party has what it takes in experience, intellect and courage to ensure that we demand and get what is rightfully ours as the people of Fiji. This includes the requirements for independence and transparency process involved in the elections, which should also meet international standards, along the lines recommended in the Peoples Draft of 2012. Nothing less is acceptable and everything must be done within the agreed time guidelines of September, 2014. Conclusions In concluding, I like to leave a very important issue last not because it is of least importance but rather because of its significance to all of us in the Party and for all the people who support democracy locally and internationally. We have with us for the first time in our General Assembly, the last elected Prime Minister, Laisenia Qarase. Our Party officials, and friends of the Party have visited his home in Moti Street to welcome him on his return. We thank God he is well and healthy and cheerful, and we also thank God for his contributions to the Party that is now part of our tradition in SODELPA. SODELPA carries with it some of the principles and the values that SDL, that he formed some 12 years ago. I am grateful about his willingness to be involved as a member of the new Party but the restrictions of the Political Parties Decree makes him ineligible for holding an official position in the Party. But his willingness to be involved as an ordinary member apart from his advice on some issues will be invaluable. For that I am grateful and I ask all the members present to welcome him and wish him continuing good health and that of his wife Leba Qarase, and the family. Mr Qarase will remain an icon and a symbol of hope for democracy and like Mr Mahendra Chaudhry and the late Dr Timoci Bavadra before him, who were all elected leaders but were deposed illegally by military actions. That should be a lesson to us all that we should be vigilant in defending democracy and ensure that that we do not allow the military or any such other illegal forces whatever their form or intentions, to undermine the will of the people to decide freely who should govern them. Finally, I hope that all that we have resolved today will ensure that our Party will be in a good position to carry out the tasks entrusted us to do, whatever it takes under the law, to return Fiji into a peaceful, prosperous and united country, at the very least, by the end of September ,2014. Vinaka Vakalevu. |
 Fijileaks understands that regime lackey and PINA's training manager Matai Akauola (left, above) has been appointed new director of Fiji's Media Industry Development Authority. Meanwhile, Fiji Sun's Dicke Bird (i.e. Leone Cabenatabua) told his readers: "Who is going to be the new director of the country’s Media Industry Development Authority? Dickie Bird last night said the appointment has already been made and the announcement, soon. Dickie Bird said the appointee is a veteran local journalist who has vast experience in print, radio and television." On a separate note, Fijileaks has established that Fiji TV's sports editorr Satish Narayan (left below) was unceremoniously fired on the orders of the self-appointed Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama. It was either Narayan goes, or Fiji TV's CEO Tarun Patel - or Fiji TV lose their license. Obviously, there wasn't much choice in the matter. It's sad considering Narayan's years of loyal service to the company. |
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