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FRANK Bainimarama's former Finance Minister Mahendra Chaudhry & FLP want caretaker government before promised elections, the 1997 Constitution and regime to abide by 2009 Fiji Court of Appeal ruling

10/8/2013

Fiji Labour Party wants a caretaker government to take charge of the process of restoring Fiji to democratic and constitutional rule. The call was made at the Annual Delegates Conference of the party in Lautoka.

Party leader Mahendra Chaudhry said the conference emphasised that free, fair and credible elections could not be held under the current government and reiterated its earlier call that to ensure the credibility and integrity of the process, the only lawful and legitimate way forward for Fiji was to abide by the ruling of the Fiji Court of Appeal in April 2009.

“The conference noted that the President had the powers to implement the roadmap recommended by the Appeals Court and delegates spoke in favour of retaining the 1997 Constitution which had wide support among the people of Fiji,” said Chaudhry.

He said however some amendments and additions were considered necessary, particularly those relating to the electoral system and good governance These, Chaudhry said could be discussed and agreed to in an appropriately constituted forum similar to the aborted President’s Political Dialogue Forum of 2009. The conference also called for the involvement of the Commonwealth Secretariat, the European Union and Pacific Islands Forum to assist in the transition to democratic rule.
Source:http://fijilive.com/news/2013/08/flp-wants-caretaker-govt-for-elections/54640.

Minister for Elections & A-G Khaiyum responds:

“The Prime Minister has already set out a roadmap to the lead-up of the elections of September, 2014, and that has been the position that government has always adhered to. Also in any comments regarding political parties manifesto, that is up to the political party to talk on their manifesto to deal with it and the public. Its not governments’s position to comment on any political parties manifesto.”

Calm before the storm: Chaudhry kick-starts call for true democracy and puts his demands on the table

Former post-coup comrades out of step now - Chaudhry on a new road journey for Fiji

SMILING coupists - now Chaudhry grumbling from the sidelines - the three at the launching of the Peoples Charter for Change in Fiji

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Citizens Constitutional Forum fined $20,000 while CCF Chief Executive Officer Akuila Yabaki spared prison - instead he has been handed a three month sentence, suspended for 12 months for contempt of court

9/8/2013

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Fiji High Court judge Justice William Calanchini has fined CCF $20,000 while Akuila Yabaki has been convicted and handed a three month sentence, suspended for 12 months.
Justice Calanchini also said that Yabaki's sentence will be suspended upon the condition that Yabaki pays a $2,000 fine within 28 days. He also has to pay costs of $2,500 within 28 days to the Attorney General's Office. Justice Calanchini also ruled that CCF has to arrange an apology directed to the judiciary of Fiji. This is to be drafted and submitted within 28 days to the court for approval. Once the apology is approved, it has to be printed in the next edition of the CCF Newsletter, Tutaka.
In June State lawyer Ropate Green from the Attorney-General's Office had asked Justice Calanchini to jail Yabaki for six months for contempt of court. Green asked that CCF be sentenced to pay a fine of no less than $100,000 and that its directors be ordered to enter into a good behaviour bond of $100,000 for a period of two years. He also submitted that the next issue of Tutaka carry a public apology to the court on its front page and that CCF pay indemnity costs "on a higher scale".
In the April 2012 edition of its Tutaka newsletter, CCF had published an article reporting the outcome of an investigation by the United Kingdom Law Society Charity on the independence of the judiciary in Fiji. The Attorney-General Aiyaz Khaiyum alleged that words in the article were a "scurrilous attack on the members of the judiciary thereby lowering or posing a real risk of lowering and undermining the authority of the judiciary and the court".

In my judgment the contempt in the present case falls below the seriousness of the contempt involved in the 2008 decision of the High Court in Attorney-General of Fiji –v- Fiji Times Ltd and Others (unreported No.124 of 2008 delivered 22 January 2009). The reasons for this are the limited distribution of the newsletter and the less vitriolic language that constituted the contempt. - Judge Calanchini

The Second Respondent’s salary is $68,000.00 gross (but not including FNPF contributions) as Chief Executive Officer and that represents his only source of income. With his wife he jointly owns shares in Amalgamated Telecommunications Holdings worth about $10,000.00 and he has taken out a BSP Life Insurance Policy. The Second Respondent and his wife jointly own the family home at Colo-i-Suva - Judge Calanchini

Read Full Judgment

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TAKING Fiji for a ride: IT company Yalamanchili accused of muscling in on the E-ticketing market with help from Nur Bano Ali and Aiyaz Khaiyum

8/8/2013

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THE IT company Yalamanchili, hired by the Fiji regime to run the government’s ICT department and to digitize government information, is looking at expanding its role in making more money off the Fiji public.

For a while now there were concerns by career civil servants that a foreign company was being given unprecedented access to information on Fiji citizens under the guise of ‘digitizing’ this information. The digitizing of information itself is commendable but the concern is how a country like Fiji which constantly flags its sovereignty has allowed a foreign company access to its computer system and the information it holds on citizens without any public tender process or debate.

Yalamanchili has now muscled in on the E-ticketing market, which explains why Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum suddenly stepped in at the 11th hour in June to halt the E-ticketing process under the guise of ‘opening up the market’ to prevent anti-competitive practices. It seems like neither Vodafone, Foneology or the new players Digicel and BulaMyFiji.com will get as much a return on their investment as they had hoped if Yalamanchili gets its way. Yalamanchili is believed to be pushing for a centrally controlled system which it will design and implement taking a cut from every single E-ticketing transaction on the system throughout Fiji.

The current E-ticketing system designed by Vodafone and Foneology had been presented at a full Cabinet meeting and was eventually accepted by the Cabinet. It had been running for several months quite well and operators were keen to have the system legally confirmed when Khaiyum derailed it.

One of the bus operators who was against the E-ticketing system and who sits on the board of the Suva Chamber of Commerce, allegedly used the influence of Dr Nur Bano Ali to get Khaiyum to intervene.

Foneology director James Trusler, left, demonstrates the use of the new E-Ticketing console box while LTA media officer Alfred Wiliame, KBL executive chairman Nisar Ali Shah and Vodafone head of corporate affairs and manager M-PAiSA Shailendra Prasad look on

Money bag lady

Word is that Nur Bano got Khaiyum to stop the project until she and Yalamanchili’s local partner Nisar Ali could figure out how to make money out of the estimated $100 million a year that will flow through the system. Khaiyum allegedly obliged and said a ‘revised’ set of Minimum Standard Requirements (MSR) would be issued by the AG’s office.

There’s a lot of head scratching in stakeholder circles on why the AG’s office should be drafting regulations for e-ticketing system when it is clearly the domain of the Ministry of Transport and the Land Transport Authority.

It is understood that this has seriously demoralized the staff and CEO of LTA. Permanent Secretary for Transport Francis Kean, Bainimarama’s brother-in-law is also reportedly concerned about the turn of events and has warned Bainimarama about what is going on.

Under the guise of big words such as “interoperability”, the AG then involved Nisar Ali without calling for a tender to redraft the MSR. Word is rife that the revised MSR by Nisar Ali will recommend that all E-ticketing solution providers integrate their system to a proposed national switch to be developed by Yalamanchili and pay a fee on transactions.

So for every bus E-ticketing fare transaction, a percentage will allegedly go to Yalamanchili, Khaiyum and Nur Bano.

Editor's Note: Story filed by a Fijileaks Contributor.

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Graffiti Trial Update: Defence lawyer wants Suva court to vacate hearing date of his client - the Sri Lankan born Kiwi citizen Jagath Karunaratne

1/8/2013

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Accused Jagath Karunaratne

A defence lawyer wants the Suva Magistrates Court to vacate the hearing date of his client Sri Lankan- born New Zealand citizen, Jagath Karunaratne.

This was after the Director of Public Prosecution Office had requested two more weeks for further disclosures to be served.

Defence lawyer Filimone Vosarogo said that granting the DPP’s request would mean insufficient time for trial. He said there were 50 witnesses and thousands of documents prepared for the trial.

Karunaratne, Mosese Bulitavu, Eroni Takape, Usaia Koroi and Waisale Daganayasi appeared before Chief Magistrate Usaia Ratuvuli on Monday. John Rabuku who is representing Bulitavu fully agreed with Vosarogo for the vacation of the hearing date.

It’s alleged that between August 21 and 27, 2011, the five conspired to an act, mainly writing seditious words in public places and billboards along the Suva-Nausori corridor with seditious intention and thereby purported to bring into hatred or contempt or to excite dissatisfaction against the government of Fiji as the law established.

Mr Ratuvili has extended bail for the accused persons and adjourned the matter to August 13 for ruling on the request by defence lawyers. Source: Fiji Sun, 1 August 2013.

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