LISTEN TO RABUKA ON VOSAROGO'S APPOINTMENT AS NEW A-G
'TATA LAILAI' (Vosarogo calls Rabuka that) throws him under the BUS

From Fijileaks Archives, 3 April 2015

*But the presiding ILSC Commissioner Justice Gihan Kalutunga refused to enact the '2016 Vosarogo Judgement' where Vosarogo was granted interim practising certificate but was not allowed to operate a TRUST ACCOUNT;
*Vosarogo was to take the monthly bank statements for his law firm Mamlakah Lawyers Trust Account to the Office of the Chief Registrar at the end of each month until further notice;
*Vosarogo was to operate or practice only as Barrister and would only receive payment upon issuance of an invoice, after the work had been done (Invoice for work done);
*And, Vosarogo was to work under the supervision of Simione Valenitabua (now managing the Fiji Rugby Union Board). Valenitabua was managing partner in the firm of Toganivalu & Valenitabua, operating out of Toorak, Suva, in 2016.

Vosarogo's twisted interpretation of the Constitution will allow disbarred lawyer Suresh Chandra to be next Attorney-General of Fiji

Former Fijian Electoral Commission chairperson Suresh Chandra (right) with his lawyer Devanesh Sharma outside Independent Legal Services Commission in Suva on March 21, 2023.

ILSCommissioner Justice Kulatunga

​"Finally, it is submitted that he [Chandra] has co-operated with the CR [Chief Registrar] and he is still trying his best to sell a property to reduce the debt but states that he still needs to work in order to survive and to give restitution to his former clients. It is submitted that he be allowed to practice only as a Solicitor but not to maintain a Trust Account until further review as done in the case of Chief Registrar v Vilimone Vosarago ILSC No. 002 of 2016." ILSC Commissioner Justice Gihan Kulatunga, 25 April 2023

PIO TIKODUADUA AND NFP'S 'LEGAL OWL: 'I will also be in dialogue with legal stalwarts including the Fiji Law Society [regarding Vosarogo as A-G], ensuring that the step forward is informed, nurtured and reflective of the expert opinions'. Let us hope Tikoduadua is NOT consulting the party's 'Legal Owl, RICHARD NAIDU' who is still asleep on his 'legal mate' Filimoni Vosarogo as new Attorney-General.

From Fijileaks Archives on disbarred lawyer SURESH CHANDRA

*Misuse of Trust Fund by legal practitioners is a very serious criminal offence. The FFP government considered it so serious that it brought in amendments to the Legal Practitioners Act in 2009, removing the powers of the Fiji Law Society to investigate professional misconduct of its members and take proper action. These powers were then vested in the Legal Practitioners Unit. But the Fiji Law Society is obligated under its Act to “protect the public in all matters, ancillary or incidental to the practice of the Law”. 

*We understand that Ajay Amrit is living in a temporary accommodation. He is allegedly planning to sell and buy a smaller place but better equipped. Since he is in the sulu of Sitiveni Rabuka and Biman Prasad, we guess he will get the money either to renovate or buy something better. Talking of 'The SMELL of i-Taukei' left behind by his predecessor DAVID KOLITAGANE reminds us of the failed COUPIST GEORGE SPEIGHT, who claimed he carried out the 2000 coup to remove PM Chaudhry because 'Indians smelled differently' or Rabuka who claimed 'Hindus and Muslims were pagans who must be converted to Christianity or 'we all i-Taukei will become PAGANS'

WHITE POWER:
'You look so PRETTY in White Top'
The NFP sexual creep was not only cheating on his wife but he was also cheating behind the back of his provisional NFP Candidate Hiroshi Taniguchi

*The presence and participation of Ratu Isoa Tikoca was a serious security breach and a diplomatic faux pass by the Fiji delegation in the meeting between the two Prime Ministers and their official delegations.
*We are told that Tikoca who had allegedly applied for Protection Visa from the Australian government might be posted by Rabuka as Fiji's Ambassador to Malaysia, an appointment he is planning to make soon, as he informed his 'meet and greet' Fiji audience in Canberra.

'Bula Kai. I c you in most photos. Have you joined the [Fiji] Government in some unofficial position?'

'Just ​join[ed] them, and travelling with them'. TIKOCA's reply to Fijileaks Victory Services Club, London

IN HUNT FOR KHAIYUM'S 'MILLIONS': In 2015, I met up with Ratu Isoa Tikoca, along with two others, in the Victory Services Club, located in the heart of London. The Club is a tri-service, all ranks members club for retired and serving members of the Armed Forces. Tikoca was part of a Fiji parliamentary delegation visiting London.
*He took time out to meet up with us for dinner at the Club. Naturally, I was interested in his repeated claims about Aiyaz Kahiyum's so-called 'millions in overseas bank accounts'. He promised me that on his return to Fiji he would ask MICK BEDDOES to forward all the documents to me. To date, I have not received a shred of document from either Beddoes or Tikoca on Aiyaz Khaiyum's 'hidden millions overseas'.
*However, Fijileaks stood up for Tikoca when he was suspended from Parliament, and during his court case, until he left for Australia.
*We understand that while he was residing in Adelaide, he had applied for a Protection Visa from the Australian government, citing his feud with the Bainimarama-Khaiyum regime. We do not know what is his Immigration status in Australia.
​*Whatever is his Immigration Status, we were shocked to see him in Rabuka's official delegation, even sitting across the table in Parliament House in Canberra, listening into (or even participating) in high-level bi-lateral talks.
*There are some who claim that Tikoca was there as 'Liaison Officer for Fiji Workers in the PALM scheme'. We refute the claim, for those present in the meet and greet meeting with Rabuka in Canberra claim that he told them that he was planning to appoint three or four 'Liaison Officers' in different parts of Australia. In any event, when Rabuka was meeting to discuss Pacific Labour Mobility issues with Albanese, it is the Minister for Labour or his Assistant Minister who should have been prominently present in Rabuka's delegation to help grill the Aussie Prime Minister for follow up purposes.
​*We see Tikoca next to Lesi Korovalavala, the PS, Fiji Foreign Affairs, in most Fiji government issued photos. Incidentally, in the 1987 coups, both Rabuka and Tikoca were Korovalavala's senior, who until recently was hiding in Australia from the Bainimarama-Khaiyum regime. In 2007, despite being on the banned travel list, Korovalavala had slipped out of Fiji, first to Solomon Islands and later surfaced in Australia.
*In 2003 Korovalavala retired from the RFMF with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in order to become Deputy then Secretary for Home Affairs and Immigration in the Qarase government. He had a strained relationship with Commodore Bainimarama who removed him after the 2006 Coup and banned him from leaving Fiji but Korovalavala gave them the slip.
*Rabuka had appointed Tikoca as Commissioner Central from New York in 1994 after his appointment was termined by the UN Department of Peacekeeping for alleged disciplinary reasons. He was squatting with one of my kila vata from Tailevu in New York.
*Instead of getting the RFMF to conduct disciplinary proceedings against Tikoca, he was promoted as Commissioner Central and he was later promoted as Commissioner Western. Bainimarama later appointed him as Fiji's ambassador to PNG and the rest is history.
*We wonder if there was a massive failure on the part of the Australian Immigration, Foreign Affairs, and Intelligence authorities to conduct a thorough check on Tikoca's status in Australia, and his 'designated status by Rabuka' before Tikoca was cleared to join Rabuka's official delegation, and even to take part in bi-lateral talks?
​In what capacity was Tikoca appearing in Rabuka's delegation?

Fiji and Australia must provide answers on Tikoca. Rabuka and rookie diplomat Ajay Amrit cannot just WHITEWASH the Diplomatic Faux Pas

*As Coalition's 'Chief Legal Officer' Attorney-General SIROMI TURAGA digs in and remains in his current post, it is laughable for Kepa to suggest that the media should obtain a comment from the in-coming A-G Filimoni Vosarogo on whether she should have resigned as Sodelpa Management Board member before accepting Chair, TELS
*Sadly, Vosarogo has not only brought disrepute to the legal profession and the Coalition government,​ but his personal standing is in a free fall - that he was three times found guilty of professional misconduct, and yet allowed his uncle Sitiveni Rabuka for him to replace TURAGA as A-G.

WE REPEAT, RESIGN RO KEPA under the Political Parties Act.
*According to sources inside Sodelpa, Kepa is in a bind. If she resigns from the Sodelpa Management Board as a member, she will have no role in influencing the party to back her for the Presidency in 2024, which we are told Rabuka wants to give to Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu despite PAP having promised it to Kepa in the Coalition Pact

*As we were trying to establish from SODELPA if Ro Kepa had resigned to take up Chair, TELS, a confirmation came through that she is still a Senior SODELPA Board Member in an interview she gave to Fijivillage, online newsite, on Wednesday, 18 October 2022, on Cabinet reshuffle.
*How come Biman Prasad, the ministerial line manager of TELS, approved her appointment in breach of the Political Parties Act under which Aiyaz Khaiyum and Tanya Waqanika were forced to resign from the Constitutional Offices Commission, for they had opted to hold on to their political party positions.
*Even Seini Nabou had resigned as NFP general secretary to take up Board membership of Fiji Television Ltd and as Director to the Fiji Airways Board of Directors.
*In Kepa's case, it doesn't matter if she has resigned or not (she was asked to resign by Sodelpa but so far has refused to do so), for the Political Parties Act stipulates that she is deemed to have resigned once she took up office as Chair, TELS.
*We are surprised that Fijivillage didn't question Kepa on the breach when they asked her for comments on the Cabinet reshuffle.

*For nearly forty decades, I stood by the Kepa family, out of my political and personal loyalty to the MARA family; her sister Adi Lady Lala Mara was Ratu Mara's wife, and also Tui Dreketi of Burebasaga and Rewa. *Even when Sailosi Kepa, her late husband, was Coupist and racist Rabuka's High Commissioner to London. Although I never set foot in the Fiji High Commission for we were engaged (with Rewa chief Ratu Mosese Tuisawau) in the armed overthrow of the racist Rabuka's post 1987 coup government, I maintained cordial but arms-length friendship with Sailosi Kepa, a friendship that I had developed in Fiji when he was Chief Magistrate and DPP in 1980, and I was on the old Fiji Sun, later shut down by Sitiveni Rabuka. We all lost our jobs overnight, and like her 'Jewish friends in Israel', we were forced into exile. ​*Fast forward. Since founding Fijileaks in 2012 to fight the Bainimarma-Khaiyum dictatorship, I championed Ro Kepa's personal and political struggles to dislodge the dictatorship. Hence, it saddens me to see yesterday's Freedom Fighter has become today's Law Breaker.

*Ro Kepa is correct to argue that the recent Cabinet reshuffle by Rabuka is his prerogative but she must be reminded that the appointment of Filimoni Vosarogo as A-G is in breach of the Constitution. Her late husband became Rabuka's A-G and Justice Minister from 1988 to 1992, one of the darkest days for human rights, justice, freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and freedom of association, especially for Indo-Fijians who were not only raped, tortured, beaten and robbed but were politically disenfranchised under the 1990 Constitution.
​*We cannot stand by and let Ro Kepa blatantly flout the Political Parties Act.
*Since the formation of the Coalition government in December, we have been trying to piece together why SODELPA chose, in the end, to go with PAP.
*In the first meeting at Sodelpa's headquarters on Butt Street, it was none other than Kepa who explained her opposition to making Rabuka the Prime Minister.
*She described him as a 'SNAKE' who cannot be trusted, and cited the infamous example where Rabuka, with a group of chiefs, defeated Ro Lady Lala Mara to become the Chairman of the Great Council of Chiefs, the first commoner to do so in the GCC's history.
*As the meetings between Sodelpa, PAP, NFP and FFP intensified, Kepa changed her tune, and began leaning towards forming a coalition with PAP.
*She was offered High Commissionership to London and Presidency in 2024.
*Sodelpa wrote to her recently requesting her to resign, for not only is she in breach of the Political Parties Act but she is also in breach of Sodelpa party's Constitution, especially Section 23. The Party also has legal obligations otherwise it could be found to have breached the Electoral Act.
*Both Kepa and Tanya Waqanika continued to attend the Sodelpa Management Board meetings, especially Waqanika after she had taken up board position at  ATH.
*Last month, in Serua, the Womens' Wing of the party booted her out by moving that she be replaced because breaching the Political Parties Act could get Sodelpa suspended as a party or de-registered or fined - $10,000 or 5 years in prison.
*Our late friend Dr Mere Samisoni had objected to Waqanika's presence at one of the Sodelpa Management Board meetings but Samisoni was overruled by Anare Jale, who was charged to negotiate a coalition deal with other parties.
* Kepa is doggedly refusing to resign, allegedly cheered on by Jale.
*However, by becoming Chair, TELS, she automatically loses her Sodelpa Management Board membership.
IT IS TIME THE POLITICAL PARTIES ACT SHOULD BE READ TO KEPA:

From Fijileaks Archive, 3 October 2023

CROYNISM: Biman Prasad has also appointed a FAILED NFP election candidate and former school librarian KIRTI PATEL to the TELS Board

*Last month, we disclosed that the Public Service Commission is in turmoil, with Commissioners complaining that they are being forced to rubber stamp nominations from the three-legged Coalition parties. 
*They were shocked when Parmesh Chand, PS for Civil Service, Public Enterprise, allegedly put his name forward for consideration as the next ambassador to Japan.
*He was really miffed, and felt humiliated, when he found out that he came last on the interview sheet. 
*Now, our reliable sources in the Fiji Ministry of Foreign Affairs claim Bainimarama's former PS and PAP failed candidate has arm-twisted Rabuka to change the selection process rules so he can be re-considered as Fiji's new Ambassador to Japan.
*We are told he wants the same salary as he is currently enjoying in his current position.
*The Japan posting is the most sought after posting in the diplomatic service because of huge pay and benefits, and the Japanese culture of arriving at the Fiji Embassy with 'Yens stuffed in Brown Envelopes'

*We have had a long running feud with this SNAKE, who caused the late Fiji Sun publisher RUSSELL HUNTER, and I, so much grief when we tried to hold him to account when he was Bainimarama's PS. We have held him in low esteem, a masi polo, wanting to remain close to power. 
From The Fiji Sun archives, 2008​

State to target Denarau Island company for investigation
 E-mails focus on Martin Darveniza of Tabua Investments Ltd
 
​By VICTOR LAL

Fijileaks: The Constitution stipulates that a person cannot be Attorney-General or the Director of Public Prosecutions if he or she has been found GUILTY by the Independent Legal Services Commission. Both, Filimoni Vosarogo and John Rabuku were found guilty in 2013 respectively, and Vosarogo was also found guilty in 2017 and 2022. 
*The late DPP, David Toganivalu, had represented Vosarogo in 2013 at the Professional Misconduct hearing before Justice Paul Madigan. In 2022, Rabuku had represented Vosarogo before Justice Kulatunga

COALITION BACKSTABBING REACHES BIBLICAL PROPORTION IN CABINET RESHUFFLE
“Don’t fear the foe who attacks you, but fear the friend who hugs you fakely.”

VASU found out that he was no longer I-Taukei Affairs Minister while in a prayer meeting in Kadavu. 

*We have been reliably informed by our sources that a VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE will be moved against Sitiveni Rabuka and the Coalition government at the first sitting of Parliament in November. *The three or four rebel Coalition MPs are prepared to publicly VOTE AGAINST RABUKA, and they have full support from their vanuas. *Enough is Enough, They PROCLAIM. Even the treatment of PAP's own AG - Turaga- was shocking; he was not told of the reshuffle.

There was already disquiet that the alleged sexual creep and NFP leader BIMAN PRASAD was appointed Finance Minister when his case, brought by Japanese scientist Mrs Ari Taniguchi, is before the Fiji High Court. ​ ​*And, now the blatant defiance of the 2013 Constitution in the appointment of Vosarogo as A-G

INFATUATED? We cannot fathom why Biman Prasad was obsessed with Hiroshi Taniguchi's wife, and sending messages behind his own wife's back at all odd hours to Mrs Tanighuchi. She claims sexual harassment

"This is not the first time that this Practitioner [Filimoni Vosarogo] has been before the Commission for violations. He had been found guilty of professional misconduct in two previous matters. Firstly, in Application No. 005/2013 has admitted liability for an allegation of having instructed another legal practitioner without holding a valid practicing certificate and committing unsatisfactory professional conduct and had on 20 August 2013 been publicly reprimanded and fined $2,500, and then in Application No. 002/2016 has admitted overdrawing a client’s trust account pleaded guilty to professional misconduct and had on 29 September 2017 his practising certificate was suspended for 10 months and 17 days, a restriction imposed on his practicing certificate for 20 months and seven days and a fine of $3000.00 to be paid to the Commission and the Chief Registrar."
Justice Gihan Kulatunga Commissioner, 21 September 2022

IN THE INDEPENDENT LEGAL SERVICES COMMISSION AT SUVA ILSC CASE NO. 003 of 2022 BETWEEN: CHIEF REGISTRAR, APPLICANT AND: VILIMONE VOSAROGO RESPONDENT. Counsel: Mr. Avishay Prasad for the Applicant Mr. John Rabuku for the Respondent. Date of Hearing: 13th May 2022 Written submissions: 7, 27 May and 18 July 2022
Date of Ruling: 21st September 2022

*VOSAROGO joins the Walter Mitty lawyers club of former Attorney-General AIYAZ SAYED KHAIYUM in making a mockery of the law, especially Section 96(2)(b) of the 2013 Constitution of Fiji.
*The Attorney-General must have a minimum of 15 years of post-admission experience and NOT have been found GUILTY by the Independent Legal Services Commission (ISLC).
*His challenge to his opponents to seek the courts determination to his new appointment undermines the findings of the Independent Legal Services Commission's judgments since its inception - with many lawyers even struck off from practising for Professional Misconduct.
*Is Vosarogo suggesting that lawyer SURESH CHANDRA, the former chairman of  the Fijian Electoral Commission, who was fined $500,000 and struck off after he was foung guilty of six counts of professional misconduct by the ILSC for failing to reconcile funds totaling $2.139 million, can be re-instated, and even become Attorney-General because the ILSC makes orders, not findings of guilt?
*The Attorney-General oversees the running of the ILSC. We recommend that the Attorney-General should have no role whatsoever in ILSC.
​*However, we notice that the highly compromised Fiji Law Society has written to Sitiveni Rabuka informing him the Society's intention to challenge Vosarogo's appointment, and also calls for him to step down as Attorney-General.

*We had decided to hold back from entering the legal fray (we are not in the habit of claiming glory) because we were searching for the THIRD judgment against Vosarogo for PROFESSIONAL MISCONDUCT. This judgment is not available on the  Independent Legal Services Commission website. *On 21 September 2022, Vosarogo pleaded guilty to Professional Misconduct and was publicly reprimanded and fined $1,000 amongst other orders. *We managed to obtain the unpublished judgment from our legal sources. *In this case, he was represented by the current acting DPP JOHN RABUKU, another lawyer who was found guilty by ILSC for Professional Misconduct

20 August 2013

"Vilimone Vosarogo, a Legal Practitioner, of Mamlakah Lawyers on the 2nd day of March 2012, without being a holder of a valid practising certificate instructed LAISA LAGILEVU of LAGILEVU LAW who also was not a holder of a valid practising certificate, to appear in the Suva High Court on behalf of the Accused in the matter between State v Epeli Ratabacaca Criminal Matter No. 252 of 2011 which conduct was a contravention of the provisions of Section 52(1) (b) of the Legal Practitioners Decree 2009 which conduct was an act of unsatisfactory professional conduct."
PENALTIES
*Being unsatisfactory professional conduct, rather than professional misconduct, there is no question of the practitioner's practising certificate being at risk of being suspended, His conduct must be viewed and punished in correlation with the penalty assessed on Ms Lagilevu, the Counsel the practitioner instructed; his conduct being part of the same transaction. Ms Lagilevu was publicly reprimanded and being a very junior practitioner was fined the sum of $1000. There are nevertheless aggravating features pertaining to this allegation compared with that made against Ms. Lagilevu. This practitioner is a senior practitioner with many years' call and has at one time held a post of high public importance as Director of Legal Aid. The practitioner showed discourtesy to and disrespect to this Commission by not appearing with his Counsel on the date fixed for the hearing of this allegation. By doing so he also deprived himself of his right to address the Commission in mitigation of penalty.
ORDERS
The practitioner is publicly reprimanded. He is fined the sum of $2,500, to be paid to the Commission by 30th September 2013, failing which his practising certificate will be suspended for a period of three months. He is to pay wasted costs of $750 to the Commission for his un-excused failure to attend the hearing of this allegation on 12th of August 2013, such costs also to be paid by the same date and with the same default penalty as for the fine.
20 AUGUST 2013, JUSTICE PAUL MADIGAN, COMMISSIONER
ADDENDUM
Since arriving at this judgment with its attendant orders and before it has been handed down, the Commission received a letter from the Respondent in which he apologises profusely for his failure to attend the hearing of the 12th of August. He states that he had mis-recorded the date, thinking it was the 15th August and because he had been bedridden with flu for the preceding week he was unable to take steps to confirm the date of hearing. He had no intention to be disrespectful to the Commission nor should he be seen to be nonchalant. With those excuses, he asks for a re-opening of the hearing in order to advance these pleas before the Commission. Without fixing another hearing, the Commission accepts these timely excuses and notes the Respondent's remorse for his failure to attend but would wonder at his ability to manage his practice if he cannot indeed manage his own affairs. The fact is that the Respondent did not appear for a hearing for which he had good notice. The hearing was quite properly heard in his absence and he still bears the self-imposed disadvantage of not having been able to mitigate his penalty. In the circumstances however, and in acknowledgement that the Respondent was not intentionally showing disrespect to these proceedings, the wasted costs order (supra) is rescinded.
JUSTICE PAUL MADIGAN
COMMISSIONER 20 AUGUST 2013​​

29 September 2017:
Mr Vosarogo, please stand. Vilimone Vosarogo, this is now your second appearance before this Commission since 2013. You have, in my view, substantially completed your rehabilitation since 1st March 2016, serving from that date up to and including today, a combined total of 18 months and 18 days during which you have been either under suspension or working under a restricted practising certificate. Hence, why I am allowing you to return as a member of the legal profession but subject to certain conditions to be fulfilled over the next 12 months, including that you will be allowed for the first time in 18 months and 18 days to operate a trust account but this shall subject to stringent conditions. This will enable you, in my view, to complete your rehabilitation over the next 12 months whilst also putting in place stringent safeguards for the continuing protection of the public until this process is completed.
[151] As I mentioned at the beginning of my judgment, Vilimone Vosarogo, you have been a legal practitioner for nearly 18 years, having worked in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, as Manager Legal Service for the Land Transport Authority, Director of the Legal Aid Commission and since mid-2010 operating your own firm. No doubt, you have assisted many people during your career so far, including, I note, a number of community and sporting bodies. Whilst I did not detect baseball among those sports, I am sure that you are aware of what usually happens when you have three strikes against you (unless, of course, the umpire decides otherwise). Today, you are being given an opportunity to complete your rehabilitation. I suggest that you use this opportunity wisely.
Dr. Thomas V. Hickie
COMMISSIONER

DRUNKARD CHIEF REGISTRAR MUST BE BOOTED OUT

"The Chief Registrar is the regulatory head of the legal profession; it is his function to ensure that the profession is competently and professionally conducted and if practitioners do not co-operate with him in that regard then his mission is frustrated; the failure to respond to the Registrar is therefore a serious breach of professional duty not only because it is a clear breach of statutory duty as provided for in the Legal Practitioners Decree 2009 but also because it is a professional courtesy which should be extended to the head of the profession."