Replacement: 'Bainimarama's choice of my replacement is an ex Police Inspector Naipote Vere. He is regarded by my Chief Officers as arrogant (hates Indians), vindictive and vicious fellow. Following the coup of 1987, he personally arrested the then Assistant Commissioner Administration, Chandra Dell and dragged him through Nausori Police Station and Central Police Station as an act of humiliation. The arrest was under the order of Sitiveni Rabuka |  Sitiveni Rabuka Father of Coup Culture |
 |  |  The late Andrew Hughes, Police Commissioner |
* We may recall that the late Police Commissioner Andrew Hughes tried to get Frank Bainimarama arrested in New Zealand to avert the then-impending 2006 Coup.
*In a letter to his New Zealand counterpart, HOWARD BROAD, while asking Broad to reconsider his decision not to arrest Bainimarama, Hughes made some startling claims, including that the 'Shadowy Supporters' included Mahendra Chaudhry:
'The Commodore's intention is to appoint himself President and Commander in Chief (Fijileaks: We have decided not to publish the next line regarding Hughes' source)...His shadowy supporters' as I have referred to them publicly, will then be appointed to key positions. Ratu Epeli Ganilau as Minister for Home Affairs, Mahendra Chaudhry as Prime Minister, etc, etc.".
*We have not been able to verify Hughes's allegations regarding Chaudhry as Bainimarama's Prime Minister. For since the 2008 tax allegations, he has barely responded to us.
*We may recall that Chaudhry had declined to enter Cabinet in Qarase's multi-party coalition government and after the 2006 coup had become Bainimarama's Interim Finance Minister. "This [2006] coup is different because the Qarase Government was so awful...Fiji could not have survived another five years." - Mahendra Chaudhry to Larry Dinger
"Mahendra Chaudhry, former PM deposed by the 2000 coup and still head of the FLP, phoned today to let the Ambassador know he intends to accept Bainimarama's offer of the Finance, Public Enterprises, and Sugar Reform portfolios. He put it in terms of having to move Fiji forward and get back to democracy ASAP. When the Ambassador noted how disastrous the past coups had been for Fiji and for Chaudhry personally on two occasions, Chaudhry suggested this coup is different because the Qarase Government was so awful...Fiji could not have survived another five years...Interim Finance Minister Chaudhry is showing his vindictive side. Under the interim government, Chaudhry crony Vayeshnoi is Sports Minister and Chaudhry son Rajendra is on the FSC board."
The former US Ambassador to Fiji, Larry Dinger to Washington
Below is an excerpt from the 16-page letter Hughes had written to his New Zealand police counterpart Howard Broad on 28 November 2006
Fijileaks: After deportation of the late Fiji Sun publisher Russell Hunter following the revelation of Chaudhry's $2million in his Sydney bank account, the paper had dumped our Editor-in-Chief as a regular Opinion Columnist and began running Graham Davis pieces from Grubsheet
  |  |
By GRAHAM DAVIS
(Fiji-born Graham Davis is now an award-winning print and broadcast journalist in Australia. He has covered major events around the world.
He blogs at grubsheet.com)
Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama has strongly denied claims made by two former Fiji journalists that he tried to mount three coups before his takeover in December 2006.
In two articles in the New Zealand Herald, the Oxford-based academic and author Victor Lal and Russell Hunter, the expelled former publisher and editor-in-chief of the Fiji Sun, said Commodore Bainimarama had tried to take over the country after the Speight coup in 2000, and then again in 2004 and 2005.
The latest article details what the authors say is leaked correspondence from some of Commodore Bainimarama’s fellow officers urging him not to proceed and warning that they would oppose him.
In an interview in Suva, Commodore Bainimarama said the allegations were “not true”.
In the case of 2000, Mr Lal and Mr Hunter reported that Commodore Bainimarama demanded the military should be given the authority to rule Fiji for 50 years but this was opposed by the then president, Ratu Josefa Iloilo.
ALREADY IN CONTROL
Denying the account, Commodore Bainimarama said he was already in control of Fiji in 2000. “For their information, I was in charge of the nation in 2000, so I took over in 2000. I gave the government to (Laisenia) Qarase”.
The Prime Minister said it was historical fact that he had handed the reins of power to Laisenia Qarase hoping that he would govern for all Fijians and not just the indigenous majority.
“Everyone knows the story of 2000 when I came in, so why they changed this and (have) people believing it, I don’t know”.
Commodore Bainimarama also denied subsequent attempts to seize government before his takeover in 2006.
He said: In 2004 and 2005, there was no intention then to remove the government because I was trying to tell the government to play ball.
“There was a build-up of animosity between us and the government of the day, but there was no intention then to remove them because I was trying to get them to change their stance on the Qoliqoli (coastal resources) Bill and the racism that was rife. I was trying to persuade Qarase that he was wrong but there was no talk of us wanting to do coups then.”
The Prime Minister also responded to the account by Mr Lal and Mr Hunter that the former Australian police chief in Fiji, Andrew Hughes, tried to persuade NZ police to arrest him during a visit there in the lead-up to the 2006 coup.
According to their report, Mr Hughes believed that comments made by Commodore Bainimarama during the visit constituted grounds for a NZ charge of perverting the course justice.
These comments related to an ongoing police investigation in Fiji into whether Commodore Bainimarama could be charged with sedition for threatening to overthrow the government of Laisenia Qarase. In the event, the New Zealanders refused to act, primarily because of fears for the safety of NZ citizens in Fiji if the arrest provoked a backlash in the military.
IGNORED THE HUGHES PLAN
The Fijian leader said he’d been aware at the time of the Hughes plan to have him arrested but had ignored it
.
“I didn’t think much of it because I think this guy is a twit. I mean, who would think of getting away with the arrest of a defence force chief in the Pacific, especially an Australian coming to arrest a commander of the Fiji Military Forces”, he said.
Noting that the then NZ Police chief, Howard Broad “had more sense” than Hughes to reject the request, Commodore Bainimarama said the arrest attempt “didn’t surprise him” and he believed that Andrew Hughes was acting on the instructions of the Australian Government.
“I have no doubt about that. The government of the day (Qarase’s SDL) were puppets in the hands of the Australians so Hughes was doing the bidding of both the Qarase government and the Australian Government”, he said.
The Fijian leader said the arrest attempt did not change his behaviour in any way. “We’d already made up our minds on what we were going to do and that was to remove Qarase,” he said.
PERSONAL VENDETTA
He also launched an attack on Mr Lal and Mr Hunter, claiming they were engaged in a personal vendetta against him.
“You should look at the writers. They are not credible people. Victor Lal runs down everyone in Fiji. So does Russell Hunter”.
The prime minister said Mr Hunter was motivated by anger that he’d been expelled from Fiji after 2006.
“He got the kick from here so obviously he will try and retaliate,” Commodore Bainimarama said.
(Fiji-born Graham Davis is now an award-winning print and broadcast journalist in Australia. He has covered major events around the world.
He blogs at grubsheet.com)
Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama has strongly denied claims made by two former Fiji journalists that he tried to mount three coups before his takeover in December 2006.
In two articles in the New Zealand Herald, the Oxford-based academic and author Victor Lal and Russell Hunter, the expelled former publisher and editor-in-chief of the Fiji Sun, said Commodore Bainimarama had tried to take over the country after the Speight coup in 2000, and then again in 2004 and 2005.
The latest article details what the authors say is leaked correspondence from some of Commodore Bainimarama’s fellow officers urging him not to proceed and warning that they would oppose him.
In an interview in Suva, Commodore Bainimarama said the allegations were “not true”.
In the case of 2000, Mr Lal and Mr Hunter reported that Commodore Bainimarama demanded the military should be given the authority to rule Fiji for 50 years but this was opposed by the then president, Ratu Josefa Iloilo.
ALREADY IN CONTROL
Denying the account, Commodore Bainimarama said he was already in control of Fiji in 2000. “For their information, I was in charge of the nation in 2000, so I took over in 2000. I gave the government to (Laisenia) Qarase”.
The Prime Minister said it was historical fact that he had handed the reins of power to Laisenia Qarase hoping that he would govern for all Fijians and not just the indigenous majority.
“Everyone knows the story of 2000 when I came in, so why they changed this and (have) people believing it, I don’t know”.
Commodore Bainimarama also denied subsequent attempts to seize government before his takeover in 2006.
He said: In 2004 and 2005, there was no intention then to remove the government because I was trying to tell the government to play ball.
“There was a build-up of animosity between us and the government of the day, but there was no intention then to remove them because I was trying to get them to change their stance on the Qoliqoli (coastal resources) Bill and the racism that was rife. I was trying to persuade Qarase that he was wrong but there was no talk of us wanting to do coups then.”
The Prime Minister also responded to the account by Mr Lal and Mr Hunter that the former Australian police chief in Fiji, Andrew Hughes, tried to persuade NZ police to arrest him during a visit there in the lead-up to the 2006 coup.
According to their report, Mr Hughes believed that comments made by Commodore Bainimarama during the visit constituted grounds for a NZ charge of perverting the course justice.
These comments related to an ongoing police investigation in Fiji into whether Commodore Bainimarama could be charged with sedition for threatening to overthrow the government of Laisenia Qarase. In the event, the New Zealanders refused to act, primarily because of fears for the safety of NZ citizens in Fiji if the arrest provoked a backlash in the military.
IGNORED THE HUGHES PLAN
The Fijian leader said he’d been aware at the time of the Hughes plan to have him arrested but had ignored it
.
“I didn’t think much of it because I think this guy is a twit. I mean, who would think of getting away with the arrest of a defence force chief in the Pacific, especially an Australian coming to arrest a commander of the Fiji Military Forces”, he said.
Noting that the then NZ Police chief, Howard Broad “had more sense” than Hughes to reject the request, Commodore Bainimarama said the arrest attempt “didn’t surprise him” and he believed that Andrew Hughes was acting on the instructions of the Australian Government.
“I have no doubt about that. The government of the day (Qarase’s SDL) were puppets in the hands of the Australians so Hughes was doing the bidding of both the Qarase government and the Australian Government”, he said.
The Fijian leader said the arrest attempt did not change his behaviour in any way. “We’d already made up our minds on what we were going to do and that was to remove Qarase,” he said.
PERSONAL VENDETTA
He also launched an attack on Mr Lal and Mr Hunter, claiming they were engaged in a personal vendetta against him.
“You should look at the writers. They are not credible people. Victor Lal runs down everyone in Fiji. So does Russell Hunter”.
The prime minister said Mr Hunter was motivated by anger that he’d been expelled from Fiji after 2006.
“He got the kick from here so obviously he will try and retaliate,” Commodore Bainimarama said.
From Fijileaks Archive, reproduced from the Fiji Sun, 2008.
Our Founding Editor-in-Chief has for four decades always revealed stories based on incontrovertible documents
