Fijileaks: We are no longer surprised with the behaviour of those who have their hands in the "till" - whether it is public money or raised through other means - taralalas, donations, festivals, fund-raisings: the list is very, very, very, long! Now, questions (and eye-brows) are being raised that some money from Ba Festival will go towards the running of the National Farmers Union. It reminds us of the famous Welsh singer Tom Jones song: "What's New Pussycat?" The answer, NOTHING. We are also acutely aware that a series of investigative revelations by VICTOR LAL in the Fiji Sun over FLP leader's finances and that of NFU, had not only led, in 2008, to the abduction, detention, torture and deportation of RUSSELL HUNTER, the then Publisher and Editor of Fiji Sun but HACKING had been introduced as a new tool to hide the stench of financial corruption in Fiji, and still continuing.
The recent HACKING of Fijileaks and Victor Lal's e-mails has the seeds in 2008, when those under scrutiny felt the urgent need to hack into Hunter and Lal's e-mail accounts to STOP THE INVESTIGATIONS. The then Bainimarama-Khaiyum-Chaudhry trio running the illegal post 2006 coup regime were heavily implicated in the HACKING but no one was brought to JUSTICE: "I have some juicy tips which may help the (FLP) Fiji Labour Party as a whole, especially things that Victor Lal is publishing. It is like early edition and you get info for tomorrow's paper today so you can act on it. Maybe I should send it to u or you can pass me Mahen’s email address" - Someone calling himself "[email protected]" to Chaudhry lackey Nikhil Singh, a former TV journalist.
These were PRIVATE e-mail exchanges between Hunter and Lal regarding Mahendra Chaudhry's tax files; the rest, as we say, is history. HACKING HAD NOW BECOME THE TOOL TO SUPPRESS TRUTH ABOUT STENCH OF CORRUPTION IN POST 2006 COUP FIJI. "fijimanfiji" was Fiji Sun's own in-house IT expert. The "snitch" was close to the then illegal Attorney-General and Justice Minister Khaiyum
http://mailman.aut.ac.nz/pipermail/pacific_media_watch_list/2008/000155.html.
NIKHIL SINGH: The man who had widely circulated the hacked e-mails between Russell Hunter and Victor Lal to local and international media within seconds after the plane, carrying deported Fiji Sun publisher Hunter, had taken off from Nadi airport in February 2008
From: Nikhil Singh <[email protected]>
Date: Feb 26, 2008 11:52 AM
Subject: Want to expose the truth?
To: [email protected],
[email protected], [email protected]
Russell and his mate Victor Lal had a "strategy"…………..
All about media freedom? If you need more evidence drop me an email.
Singh had also posted some of them on Fiji Times Forum in 2008:
Nikhil Singh of Australia says…
—– Original Message —–
From: Victor Lal
To: Russell Hunter
Sent: Saturday, February 02, 2008 9:10 PM
Subject: [Bulk] Re: Datt Piece – Use This One. Amazing! It could be a fishing exercise – we had planned the story for Monday – unless Leone said something – maybe not. What blogsite – so they are reading about themselves? There is fear and panic in their camp – who is going to be next? I have looked at some regular sites but couldnt find anything. We must not be deterred from our strategy – I will try and rush through the Coventry piece, maybe for Monday or Tuesday followed by Scott piece. Yes, you can delete the stuff for I have all the copies including hard evidence
Nikhil Singh of Australia says…
[email protected]> wrote:
Sorry too late. When the sevens team bombed out, Sami decided to bring
it forward. It’s page 1 tomorrow.
Here’s something more interesting. AD called me on my mobile about two hours ago saying daaku junior had seen on a blog that there was a story about him (AD) in tomorrow’s Sun. I told him there was a story on FIRCA that did not mention him. Are you aware of any such blog? I could find nothing. To be safe I’m going to permanently delete everything on DT etc in case the boot boys come here in the morning armed with a search warrant – or worse.
AD is Arvind Datt – FIRCA Board Member
Daaku Junior: Nickname for Rajendra Chaudhry for story purposes:
Victor Lal’s story on Arvind Datt was published in the Sunday Sun on 3 February 2008: FIRCA Official in Tax Scam
On 02/02/2008, Victor Lal wrote:
I will work on her affidavit which is 27 pages long - she had sent it to me while I was in Norway with an attachment from FT titled "Justice Shameem is wrong, Fatiaki says. She said her conscience was clear - surprisingly, I was reading DT's report on Fatiaki and he cites this article - where he says F lied he was on holiday so couldnt be interviewed, when the article said he made the affidavit on 13 Dec.
I have asked DT if she was involved in anyway with the investigation. I take it the Datt piece didnt come out today - I thought we should have the following plan - Datt piece, followed by Coventry piece (to indirectly warn that there are also leakers in the judiciary etc) followed by Scott piece (see attachment) - I have very cleverly not included his exchanges with DT and claims of threat, which could follow immediately - I will try and write it on Sunday - than I will work on Fatiaki Tribunal and Justice Elliot and the 1975 crisis and bang, the A-G angle and interference.
While awaiting more on daaku - that way we will be one step ahead - Justices Jitoko and Jiten (who no longer have tea with the other judges) are already with me, and now Gates, Naz and Bryne have sunk further into the trap by their own leaks - just a random thought
Fijileaks: The e-mail exchanges between Russell Hunter and Victor Lal had made the lead six o'clock news on Fiji TV, who blatantly distorted the context, and claimed that Victor Lal was planning a revolution within the judiciary. The Fiji Human Rights Commission, in a separate report on Hunter's expulsion, called for Lal's arrest, if and when, he landed in Fiji.
To this day, VICTOR LAL has refused to publicly disclose or explain the context in which those comments on the judges was made. Sadly, through his thirty plus years of exposing corruption etc, he has seen many of his contacts and 'comrades' go on to join different coupist regimes, advancing their careers and filling their wallets, sacrificing their principles; many actually no longer keep in touch: shame or guilt? A few who had joined forces in 2008 to hunt for Mahendra Chaudhry's two million dollars themselves succumbed to greed, power, and corruption.
From Fiji Sun, reproduced in Fijileaks:
http://www.fijileaks.com/home/frank-bainimarama-and-his-pms-winston-fund-will-be-revealed-one-day-flp-and-nfu-leader-mahendra-chaudhry-behaved-the-same-telling-us-that-he-was-not-obliged-to-account-for-the-2003-cyclone-ami-funds
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Fiji's two Walter Mitty law enforcers, Aiyaz Khaiyum and his side-kick Christopher Pryde, the then Solicitor-General, demanded Hunter publish Khaiyum's response to one of Victor Lal's opinion piece which had compared the different treatments meted out to Chaudhry and the then Chief Justice Daniel Fatiaki. Basically, Khaiyum and Pryde defended Chaudhry, who was the then interim Finance Minister in 2008, over the $2million he was hiding in his Australian bank account:
What follows is a response by the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Electoral Reform, Public Enterprises and Anti-Corruption on the Article by Victor Lal in the Sun dated 11.2.08 entitled “Where is the Justice?”
"where is the Justice?"
Or rather "where are the facts?
Your article of 11 February 2008 by Victor Lal is meaningless, being based on a complete misapprehension of the role of the Tribunal appointed by the President to investigate the affairs of Chief Justice Fatiaki. The Tribunal has not been appointed to "prosecute "the Judge for tax evasion; it has been appointed to investigate alleged wrongdoings on his part (including tax irregularities) with an end to determine whether such wrongdoings might warrant his removal from office. Taxation malfeasance is but one part of the allegations and the issue to be resolved is whether such conduct is befitting of a person of the Chief Justice's position in society. Mr Lal's constant references to "the Report" , which he links to the Fatiaki investigation is both misleading and dishonest journalism. He claims his authorities to be (mysterious)"sources" and bases his "facts" on premises such as "it was hinted that.."
Mr Justice Fatiaki is not being "charged with willfully with intent to evade tax"(sic) (whatever Mr Lal means by that) and his position is therefore patently different to that of "an interim Cabinet Minister". To suggest otherwise and to use the Chief Justice as an example to push for proceedings against "the Minister" not only confuses the issues involved but lends credence to Mr Lal's own (perhaps unwise) claim that he is "politically motivated".
The timing of Mr Lal's article also raises a rather worrying issue. The Chief Justice's affairs are about to be aired before the Tribunal this coming Wednesday and to write in detail giving opinions on the issues borders on contempt of Court.
"where is the Justice?"
Or rather "where are the facts?
Your article of 11 February 2008 by Victor Lal is meaningless, being based on a complete misapprehension of the role of the Tribunal appointed by the President to investigate the affairs of Chief Justice Fatiaki. The Tribunal has not been appointed to "prosecute "the Judge for tax evasion; it has been appointed to investigate alleged wrongdoings on his part (including tax irregularities) with an end to determine whether such wrongdoings might warrant his removal from office. Taxation malfeasance is but one part of the allegations and the issue to be resolved is whether such conduct is befitting of a person of the Chief Justice's position in society. Mr Lal's constant references to "the Report" , which he links to the Fatiaki investigation is both misleading and dishonest journalism. He claims his authorities to be (mysterious)"sources" and bases his "facts" on premises such as "it was hinted that.."
Mr Justice Fatiaki is not being "charged with willfully with intent to evade tax"(sic) (whatever Mr Lal means by that) and his position is therefore patently different to that of "an interim Cabinet Minister". To suggest otherwise and to use the Chief Justice as an example to push for proceedings against "the Minister" not only confuses the issues involved but lends credence to Mr Lal's own (perhaps unwise) claim that he is "politically motivated".
The timing of Mr Lal's article also raises a rather worrying issue. The Chief Justice's affairs are about to be aired before the Tribunal this coming Wednesday and to write in detail giving opinions on the issues borders on contempt of Court.
