Fijileaks
  • Home
  • Archive Home
  • In-depth Analysis
    • BOI Report into George Speight and others beatings
  • Documents
  • Opinion
  • CRC Submissions
  • Features
  • Archive

CRY THE BELOVED COUNTRY: As South African Police Commissioner resigns over 'Benedito Police Officers', now all employed by military, Qiliho takes over as acting COMPOL, and Naupoto now Rear-Admiral

10/11/2015

21 Comments

 

"I have indicated to the A-G that I am not interested in going forward with my contract and we reached mutual agreement that I will end my contract today. An hour ago my contract was ended. I am no more the Commissioner of Police of Fiji...I am waiting for confirmation of my flight and shipment of my personal belongings...[Bruce Hill: Anything to do with recent standoff between Police and Military?] Not directly but indirectly, YES. I do not agree the way they [military] are interfering with Policing. I am a too blooded Police Officer and I am not satisfied with the way they [MILITARY]  interfere with Policing"; Fijileaks: Khaiyum is not line manager of Police Commissioner so why was he involved?; the line manager is Minister for Defence Timoci Natuva!

Picture
Listen here: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-10/abrupt-end-to-fiji's-police-commissioner-tenure/6928334

CHILD SOLDIER?: "Go, little child, train to shoot, hmmm, who cares about Geneva Convention and Child Safety in Fiji"

Picture
Picture

Qiliho: "The men [three suspended Police Officers] were working for the safety of the people of Fiji and had been abandoned by the police"

Transcript

Fiji's Land Force Commander Sitiveni Qiliho says the military had good intentions in recruiting three suspended police officers who've been charged with assault.

The trio have been charged in relation to the assault of Iowane Benedito which was captured in a video which went viral nearly three years ago.

Colonel Qiliho told Sally Round the men were working for the safety of the people of Fiji and had been abandoned by the police.


CMMDR SITIVENI QILIHO: They haven't been convicted yet but unfortunately the police force has abandoned them. They were working for the Fiji police force and they were working with military officers. Now we will stand by our men and women through thick and thin. We're not going to abandon them. So they have come to us that they've been abandoned by the Fiji police and we've recruited them, they are now part of the military. It's not a new thing. Police officers have been recruited before into the RFMF and also the Commander RFMF, in his constitutional powers, has the powers to hire and fire. We've done that with good intentions, that they were working for the safety of the people of Fiji. They might have been now involved on the wrong side of the law but we'll go through the court process. It doesn't mean that we've recruited them that we will not go through the court process. No, that will continue. We took them on because they were abandoned.

SALLY ROUND: And what jobs are they doing with the military?

SQ: The military doesn't divulge jobs that we give. There are military police here that we can employ them in. There's other duties that we can employ them in. We don't have to tell the whole world what each individual is doing in the military.

SR: So are there many police that have, that you say you've recruited in this way, they've been abandoned by the police, they've come to you and you've taken them on?

SQ: No, no it's not for a similar case but we've had police who've resigned from the police force and we've taken them on in the RFMF in various capacities over the years since 1987. They have not been convicted. Now the media is convicting them already. That is what you are alluding to now. Let's wait for the court process.

SR: Would you not have waited though until they had been cleared to recruit them?

SQ: You mean for them to fight their own battles out there without the capability of hiring lawyers, do you mean to tell me that?

SR: So is the military providing lawyers for them in court?

SQ: Yes we have a lawyer fighting for our service personnel who are involved in the same case. We've hired a lawyer and they're looking after the three policemen as well.

SR: There have been some concerns expressed that the military feels it is above the rule of law in doing this. What is your response to that?

SQ: Look, we the military was involved in 2006 and was very happy with the constitution coming into place. Have we said that we won't produce them in court? Have we said that? You have to ask the people saying that we are above the rule of law to answer your question. We're not going to answer that. The men have appeared in court. They're out on bail. Where do you stand above the law in that? We won't be drawn into commenting on what other people have said and especially what other political parties have said. We are not going to be a political football.

SR: There was some reporting of the case of Pita Matairavula. The police went to try and arrest him but he was at the military barracks and they couldn't get to him. Is that true?

SQ: I'm not sure of that allegation. You need to clarify that with the people who are saying it. Pita Matairavula appeared in the Lautoka Court and he came back. He reports to work. I wasn't approached by the police looking for Matairavula.

SR: So that's not true then?

SQ: I don't know who's making those allegations. You have to ask the police that whether they made approaches to me or whoever they're looking for because Peter Matairavula works for me in land forces so nobody approached me.

SR: But the military would they protect their soldiers in this way, if the police came looking for them would they say, no he's on the barracks you can't have access to him. Would they do that?

SQ: Like any military barracks around the world nobody has free reign walking into the barracks. If they just wanted to drive into any military barracks, it doesn't happen. It doesn't happen even there in New Zealand or does the police have free access into New Zealand military camps? I doubt it.

Picture
http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-09/fiji-rule-of-law-questioned-by-former-nz-foreign/6925366
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

From Fijileaks Archive:

Picture

GOD HAD FAILED TO WARN THE POLICE COMMISSIONER (NO MORE) BEN GROENEWALD OF THE SATANS WAITING FOR HIM IN FIJI:

Picture
Picture
Picture

 For how long will former Justice Nazhat Shameem continue to shield
Fiji's abuse of human rights from her office in GENEVA?
WILL SHE RESIGN?

Picture
Picture

Fijileaks: BURMA IS NO FIJI AND SODELPA WILL NEVER BE IN POWER: The party squandered opportunity to dislodge military backed FFP by playing the indigenous card - native Fijians no longer buy into such "scratch cards" - for if they were passionate about Indigenous Rights, the Chiefs, and the Church, they would have taken to the streets after the 2006 coup. Fiji needs a leader and a party which takes all those
"crying for their beloved country"

Picture
BURMA IS NO FIJI AND SODELPA WILL NEVER BE IN POWER: The party squandered opportunity to dislodge military backed FFP by playing the indigenous card - native Fijians no longer buy into such "scratch cards" - for if they were passionate about indigenous rights, they would have taken to the streets after the 2006 coup. Fiji needs a leader and a party which takes all those "crying for their beloved country"
Picture
Picture
21 Comments
Java
10/11/2015 08:57:52 am

You beauty, the S Af'n should have known better.

Reply
Vili
10/11/2015 09:30:27 am

So...crime does pay in the new Fiji!

I would have thought that the RFMF would have recruited people with a clear record and without any cloud hanging over their heads.

This is a totally different military from that of pre-coup 1987. Back then the RFMF was considered as a professional institution with very high standards that was internationally respected.

Qiliho has now confirmed they will recruit and pay for the legal costs of those who have been charged (but not yet convicted) of criminal, human rights abuses.

In other words, he is just confirming what we knew all along - that the RFMF is complicit in human rights abuses.

Qiliho and the gutless RFMF officers stand condemned for this, another surrender!

At the same time they promoted that drunkard and untested naval officer, Naupoto, as a Rear Adimiral. 'Rear' Admiral dina as he has always led from the rear!

Will public funds be used to defend these rogue policemen?

Or will it be borne by the ordinary soldier through their contributions to the Regimental Fund?

These are the questions that should be posed by the Opposition and the Public Accounts Committee.

Sa dri yani

Reply
Chotta Ragan
10/11/2015 12:32:22 pm

Wanna be a man of principle, Qiliho, and his band of morally corrupt officers have just shown that they are fools out of touch with the values of the rest of Fiji.

They have just deepened he sense of distrust the public have of these uniformed thugs.

Reply
Charlie Charlie
10/11/2015 09:55:48 am

Good riddance. He was a useless skunk anyway. Can the police now move on and charge the murderous diplomat whom this a****** was protecting. Time to blast some firecrackers in celebration. Moce joe...

Reply
Lessons Learnt
10/11/2015 12:02:54 pm

That fiji shamelessly condones human rights abuses, that military led by qilihio has no sense of universal virtues of due processes.. and they believe the world is blind..sorry sorry the world leaders have no take on such amateur manoeuvring..

Reply
Tomasi
10/11/2015 01:53:25 pm

Qiliho has again revealed how shallow, ignorant, confused, corrupt and morally bankrupt the new RFMF leadership is. But it is no surprise and a logical extension of the type of leaders we now have in Fiji's government and a consequence of all that has happened since 1987. According to Qiliho, the RFMF will stand by its men, never mind the human rights or the rights of Fiji;s citizens, never mind the torture and deaths of civilians, never mind what the police, and the rest of the nation thinks. never mind what the other countries think.

Then the COC steps in and promotes him to be Com Pol? Did that just happen? Oh yeah. That is the new Fiji under Bainivuakas and the Khaiyums. Wake up Fiji. Our nation is truly being run by thugs. The devil must be very proud of his men and women who are leading us today and the hundreds of thousands of people who prefer to remain silent and just let things be.

Reply
King Rat
10/11/2015 09:01:35 pm

Will there now be a Church service at Nasova to welcome in the new COMPOL and farewell the outgoing one?

That has always been the tradition.

Reply
Chiku
10/11/2015 07:02:36 pm

Anybody who thinks Fiji returned to democracy following the holding of that regime staged election is either intellectually imbecile or politically naive. The appointment of Naupoto as acting military commander and Qiliho as acting police commissioner is a confirmation that Fiji returned to THUG RULE. The thug in chief Frank Bainimarama who lied to the people of Fiji at the time of his takeover in 2006 that no military personnel will benefit from his coup has been installing his mates from the military left right and centre in cushy jobs.
Fiji remains in the grip of the thug ruler and his gang. Ali Baba and his 40 thieves is writ large in Fiji politics and governance.

Reply
Dekho
10/11/2015 07:13:28 pm

I thought this South African expatriate Police Commissioner hired by the Thug Rulers of Fiji was not a man of integrity. And his failure to deal with blatant transgressions by the thug ruler and his cronies only served to confirm that view. But credit must always be given where credit is due and credit is due to the SA Polcom for resigning in light of the recruitment of rogue police officers by the Fiji military. He has salvaged his reputation and perhaps his integrity a little from this appointment - which he should never have taken.

Reply
rajend naidu
10/11/2015 08:29:07 pm

Editor,
I wonder whether a grand Fijian style farewell will be organised for the expatriate South African Ben Groenewald for " his service as Commissioner of Police " ( FT 11/11 ) as is the customary tradition?
Sincerely,
Rajend Naidu
Sydney

Reply
rajend naidu
10/11/2015 09:00:55 pm

Fijileaks your question " How long will former Justice Nazhat Shameem continue to shield Fiji's abuse of human rights from her office in Geneva? Will she resign? " brings back to mind the way former Fiji Football president lawyer Dr Sahu Khan was sucking up to the now disgraced FIFA president Sepp Blatter - to feather his own nest.
It's the same I suspect with the Madam - just making hay while the suns shinning on her under the Bainimarama-Khaiyum regime. No she will not resign.

Reply
Thinker
10/11/2015 10:08:19 pm

Just a thought:
If everyone starts resigning from that government positions, wat will happen to the government machinery?

Na na don't think it going to stop because RFMF unqualified rapist criminals will be posted on those vacant positions.

Police Commissioner's post is a good example.

Just a thought

Reply
And
11/11/2015 02:21:17 am

You too right there. It will make the work of the Thug Ruler so much easier. Presently he is planting his boys from the military in civilian positions piecemeal as the opportunity presents itself. He would love to do it wholesale. Militarise the entire government set up and in so doing set himself up as the Emperor with the Golden Garment!

Anna Lan
10/11/2015 09:43:22 pm

This case of Police brutality is linked to Treason case.
At the beginning Bhai was very firm that those charged with treason will face the full force of the law.

But along came the Police Brutality case and Ben Groenewald said the same thing that no one is above law and he went ahead to arrest these ex policemen.

Just last week the Judge granted bail to those charged with treason. This was only done so that those charged with the police brutality case also gets lenient sentencing. there is clear interfering from Bai and Khai.

Reply
Sgd.Pepper
10/11/2015 09:51:38 pm

Congratulations to Naupoto reaching the rank, the same of the Great Rear Admiral, Lord Louis Mountbatten, Earl of Burma and the last Viceroy of British India.

Just shows how much our Military/Navy loves our Colonialist traditions of titles, ranks, honors and decorations… and a hyped-up pay, despite how much Bainimarama loves to hate the Colonialists’ blooming Union Jack.

Reply
And
11/11/2015 02:13:45 am

Fijileaks you forget Kalia Khaiyum is the Minister for Everything in the " new Fiji " of his and his puppet Bainimarama's creation - and that includes acting as line manager of Police Commissioner. In a proper democracy responsibilities and powers of a minister is clearly demarcated and circumscribed . Fiji is not such a democracy. It is in fact the Bainimarama dictatorship in disguise.

Reply
Musuka link
11/11/2015 08:28:41 pm

Ben Groenewald was insensitive to the way we run things here in Fiji . Had he kept running things the way it was, he would be floating lifeless in Nabukalou Creek . Lucky he resigned!!

Reply
rajend naidu
11/11/2015 08:57:14 pm

Editor,
We are informed by ABC news 12/11 that 8 South African police officers have been jailed for killing a taxi driver. These thugs in uniform handcuffed the taxi driver to the back of a vehicle and dragged him on the road. They did not use " reasonable force " which the police are lawfully permitted to use in all modern democracies. They used savage brutal inhumane force. These rogue cops are now in the right place : in jail.
I take it in the execution of the due process of the law in South Africa there was no interference by the military or the nation's political leadership.
That is as should be.
Sincerely,
Rajend Naidu

Reply
Chiku
11/11/2015 10:36:31 pm

Acting RFMF commander recently promoted to Rear Admiral Villiame Naupoto said he is not sure what the resigning Police Commissioner Ben Groenwald is " referring to with us interfering with policing " ( Fiji Times Nov 12 ).
The people of Fiji and independent observers know precisely what the Police Commissioner is referring to.
It is not hard to see why Naupoto a fellow coupist has been made acting commander of the military and promoted.

Reply
rajend naidu
12/11/2015 04:40:45 am

Editor,
In a letter displaying his superficial thinking Niraj Sandhiv tells us " We need a Police Commissioner who puts the interest of our beloved Fiji and her citizens before his personal interest " ( FT 12/11 ) implying the resigning expatriate South African Police Commissioner did not possess such a quality.
If that is the case who recruited him and why?
Did Fiji not have a person who fitted that bill?
How come the Fiji military does not need an expatriate commander seeing it's demonstrated inability to remain within its constitutional and professional role?
Was the expatriate Police Commissioner recruited to simply do the bidding of Fiji's dictatorial rulers ( remember Fiji was a dictatorship then ) rather than to discharge the duties and responsibilities of the office of the commissioner of police as required under the law and the police oath and code of ethics?
Niraj needs to pay closer attention to what the outgoing Police Commissioner Ben Groenwald has stated as his reason for his early termination of his contract .
Sincerely,
Rajend Naidu

Reply
Krishna
12/11/2015 10:49:13 am

What a turn of events! A new president comes, a police commissioner goes, and round and round we go. Maybe the COC doesn't have time to properly vet applicants before awarding posts, like BenG's criminal record (international) or even Mr Chairman/Whip's "sexual adventures". From your cartoon, I can imagine his dancing to Silento's "Watch me whip, watch me nay nay...SPRAY watch me..." What a bunch of clowns we have!

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    editor@fijileaks.com

    ARCHIVES

    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    Picture
    Picture