| Notorious conman Peter Foster arrives in Fiji on false passport after going on the run from jail term - seeking protection visa from military dictator Frank Bainimarama
|  BABA raises hand to say he is ready to lead SODELPA. Peter Foster said he supported Baba in 2001 allegedly to a tune of $1million because he saw him as "Nelson Mandela" of South Pacific |
 Asylum-seeker in Fiji? NOTORIOUS fugitive conman Peter Foster, sentenced last week to three years' jail for contempt of court, has fled Australia. In an audacious bid for freedom, Foster, 51, disguised and travelling on a false passport, arrived early on Saturday in Fiji, where he will seek a protection visa. In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Mail, Foster refused to reveal how he made it out of the country. He said his escape had left him exhausted and "sick to the stomach". "There is a sense of exhilaration," Foster said. "But I've left a beautiful home and a beautiful family now. I'm a stranger again. It's hard to celebrate. I know I should be happy but I'm not. I just feel incredible sadness." Last Thursday Justice Logan in the Brisbane District Court sentenced Foster to three years' jail on two charges of contempt of court relating to his involvement in the scam diet spray Sensaslim. Foster had been on the run since September 27 after Justice Logan found the self-proclaimed "international man of mischief" guilty of contempt. Peter Foster said he had been planning his escape for six months. Peter Foster said he had been planning his escape for six months. Foster vowed to appear in court for sentencing last Thursday after he had put plans in place for the care of his elderly, ailing mother Louise should he be sent to prison. In the end, Foster failed to show, and was sentenced to three years' jail in absentia. Justice Logan said if Foster's mother died while he was incarcerated, he should be permitted to attend her funeral. Foster indicated on Saturday that he had been planning a possible escape for six months. Justice Logan's decision on Foster and the ACCC case against him took 12 months. "If the judge had given me three months, which in itself is severe for a contempt charge, I probably would have served it," Foster said. "There isn't a lawyer you could ring in Brisbane who wouldn't say the sentence was savage and wouldn't stand up on appeal. "This is not about avoiding jail. This is bigger than me. It's about my mother. She will not spend the twilight days of her life in a nursing home. She will spend it being cared for by me and she will spend it with a cool sea breeze in her hair, in the shade of a coconut palm. Her therapy will be floating in a blue lagoon. I just know this place will be my mother's fountain of youth. This whole thing was a malicious prosecution because it was Peter Foster. "The steps I put in place to leave were always a 'in case of emergency, break glass' situation. As it was this judge broke the glass for me when he handed down probably the highest sentence for contempt ever in this country and for one of the most insignificant contempts ever. "As far as I'm concerned, Justice Logan can shove it up his jacksie." Legal sources said Saturday Foster's sudden flight may have been permitted by a legal loophole left by court processes. Justice Logan made his oral rulings late on Thursday which meant the formal orders and judgments may not have been written, signed and filed until either Friday or even Monday. Sources said the documents had not been filed by Friday afternoon. This left a minimum 24-hour window whereby there was no formal arrest warrant issued against Foster, given the warrant for his arrest stemming from his non-appearance at Justice Logan's judgment hearing in September had expired. Foster is no stranger to Fiji. He spent the formative years of his childhood in the country and was prepared to settle there for good less than a decade ago when he was arrested and charged with money laundering and deported back to Australia. Prior to that arrest, he had plans for property development and even toyed with the idea of building a luxury gated resort. He was living at the Sheraton Fiji with his mother in a poolside apartment. During that time he also became heavily involved in Fijian politics. Foster said Saturrday he was being looked after by friends. He gave no details of his whereabouts only to say he was "safe" and "in the country", away from the tourist hotspots of Suva and Nadi. He hoped to be reunited with his mother soon. He said he had not slept for almost 48 hours and could not think straight. He did, however, have enough energy to condemn those he considered his persecutors. Foster said he was outraged not just at his sentence but the "insensitivity" of Justice Logan in mentioning that Foster could attend his mother's funeral if he was in prison. |  November 2006: Conman Foster nabbed by Fiji Police  Family ties: Foster has previously told the court in a letter that he would give himself up once he knew that his mother, Lou Foster, could be cared for if he was in prison. The pair are pictured together with Fijian police officers in 2006  Last Thursday Justice Logan in the Brisbane District Court sentenced Foster to three years' jail on two charges of contempt of court relating to his involvement in the scam diet spray Sensaslim.  Peter Foster said he had been planning his escape for six months. Birds of Feather On The Run from Law |
The Conman’s August Curse
"The convicted fraudster Peter Clarence Foster is not someone who inspires sympathy in Australia. It must be a refreshing change for Foster that, for once, he has found ‘FRIENDS’ in the aspiring Prime Minister Tupeni Baba and his colleagues in the New Labour Unity Party. What unites the professional con artist and his politician friends? His cavalier statement sums up his irrepressibility: ‘You give me a bucket of mud and I’d sell it.’ We hope and pray that he will not be delegated to ‘sell’ Fiji to tourists and investors around the world. Which leaves the question in the air: is August the curse for the conman? He fled from a British prison in August 1996. He was ordered to be extradited to Great Britain by the Australian Federal High Court on 3 August 2000. A year later, in the month of August, he was exposed as one of the financial backers of the New Labour Unity Party and its leader Tupeni Baba. The New Labour Party should seriously consult their political astrologers before the August election to exorcise the conman’s August curse. And Sheraton Hotel should ensure to protect its own financial purse. It is, after all, the month of August in Fiji. "
VICTOR LAL, Fiji Times, 2001
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