Fijileaks Rejoinder: According to reliable "Coconut Wireless" stringers, PRAMESH SHARMA fell foul of Aunty Nur Bano Ali when, in his capacity as BSP Chief Investment Officer, he had instructed that a notice be issued to her company to pay up allegedly outstanding rent to BSP
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 |  By GRAHAM DAVIS on Sharma arrest |  |
"The fact that there was no evidence against him also hasn't prevented the mendacious Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum from smearing Pramesh Sharma in the parliament, knowing full well there were no grounds to charge him and knowing full well that there is no comeback because anything he says in parliament is protected by privilege...Did this episode contribute in any way to Rusiate Tudravu's decision to resign altogether from the police force as soon as Sitiveni Qiliho returned from the UK?"
An important sidebar to the Attorney General's statement to the parliament last week in which he peddled the blatant falsehood that he doesn't direct the Fiji's Sun's coverage. Under the cloak of parliamentary privilege, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum also made the following false statement about the Oceania Hospitals Executive Director, Pramesh Sharma. Quote: “Recently, an executive of a company was charged by Police. Unfortunately he got off on a technicality. The lady had also gone to the Women’s Crisis Centre, We understand nothing happened. No-one came to the defence of that lady, no one commented that this person who has gone to New Zealand, now making comments from there. Why? Was it because he is anti-Government or made anti-Government comments that is why they are not saying anything about him?" Unquote.
FACT:
*Pramesh Sharma did not "get off on a technicality". He was arrested but no charges proceeded to court in the normal manner because the evidence against him relating to alleged text messages between him and an unnamed woman did not warrant any charges being laid.
* In fact, Sharma's arrest by the police as he was boarding a flight to New Zealand for medical treatment was illegal and Grubsheet understands that he is contemplating suing the authorities for wrongful arrest.
* Incredibly, we understand that the Prime Minister allegedly ordered Sharma's detention by contacting Sitiveni Qiliho in Britain before he returned to Fiji to resume his job as Police Commissioner and Qiliho then instituted the arrest over the head of the then Acting Police Commissioner, Rusiate Tudravu.
*Those who have seen the texts say they are completely unexceptional and demonstrate no evidence that Sharma had been sexually harassing the woman in question. So why was Sharma arrested and publicly humiliated if there was no evidence against him?
*Why was the case never formally dealt with by the Office of the DPP in the normal manner?
*Why were normal police procedures breached on the alleged directive of the Prime Minister?
*Well, it appears from reliable sources that Sharma's sole crime was to be regarded by the FijiFirst leadership as anti-government - something the AG confirmed in his statement to parliament.
*Pramesh Sharma is innocent but that did not prevent the authorities from arresting him even though they evidently knew they had nothing on him. And the proof of that is that they did not refer the case to the DPP and were eventually obliged to allow Sharma to leave Fiji anyway for the medical treatment scheduled for him in New Zealand.
*The fact that there was no evidence against him also hasn't prevented the mendacious Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum from smearing Pramesh Sharma in the parliament, knowing full well there were no grounds to charge him and knowing full well that there is no comeback because anything he says in parliament is protected by privilege.
*A sordid and disgraceful case of which we have not heard the last. And then there are the supplementary questions.
*What hold would any person with a grievance have over the Prime Minister that he would allegedly bypass normal legal procedures and order someone detained?
*Did this episode contribute in any way to Rusiate Tudravu's decision to resign altogether from the police force as soon as Sitiveni Qiliho returned from the UK?
*Do the Prime Minister and his sidekick realise that targeting one person they regard as being anti-government is absurdly pointless when there is an army of anti-government people in the country waiting to take to them with figurative baseball bats at the next election?
* And what kind of democracy is Fiji when individuals who disagree with government policy are hounded by the disciplined forces without any legal justification on the orders of politicians who may be here today but will be almost certainly gone tomorrow?
*Only the last question can be answered with any certainty. Fiji is a democracy only in name.
The Dictator still calls the shots.
