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*It is alleged that Turaga, while in private legal practice, took over Mrs Mikaele Lewaicei's divorce application case on 27 July 2022 and on 6 August 2022, she got married in California to a fellow i-Taukei without being granted a decree nisi from Fiji. In fact, no divorce was granted in Fiji, and Mr and Mrs Lewaicei still remain married under the laws of Fiji. How Turaga's former legal client got married is now the subject of a Police case after Mikaele Lewaicei filed a police complaint.
*It is against the law to marry someone else while you are still legally married and going through a divorce. This means that getting remarried during a divorce process is not allowed in any of the 50 states in the United States, as it would be considered entering into a new marriage while already being married to another person.
A Fijilleaks investigation reveals that new hubby Sami Galluvakadua is still married to his own wife. Fijiwood v Hollywood. It can't get better, Fiji.
  Mikaele Lewaicei  |  MARRIAGE BLISS |   Sami Galluvakadua with his new bride  |
*The Fiji Police, with assistance from their counterparts in Sacramento, San Francisco, are investigating a criminal complaint from former soldier MIKAELE LEWAICEI against Attorney-General SIROMI TURAGA who stands accused of facilitating the marriage of his 'village cousin' from Nairai to another man while she remained married to Lewaicei.
*It is alleged that Turaga, while in private legal practice, took over Mrs Lewaicei's divorce application case on 27 July 2022 and a month later, on 6 August 2022, she got married in California to a fellow i-Taukei without having a decree nisi from Fiji. In fact, no divorce was granted in Fiji, and Mr and Mrs Lewaicei still remain married under the laws of Fiji.
*Turaga had fallen foul with the Bainimarama-Khaiyum regime as resident magistrate during Covid-19 when he had acquitted two men of breaching a curfew. He had ruled that the charge was defective as Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama had no power to order arrests under the Public Health Act.
*His contract was not extended. He went into private practice, and later stood as PAP candidate in the election, and was appointed Attorney-General after PAP formed Coalition with SODELPA and the National Federation Party.
*According to a police statement cited by Fijileaks from Lewaicei:
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Fijileaks Update: A further search revealed that an application for divorce was filed in the Lautoka Family Court but allegedly not by Turaga.
*According to court sources, it was sent via post from the United States by Mrs Lewaicei but the matter was struck off because both the parties did not attend. Mikaele Lewaicei was not aware of the divorce application nor was he informed. He was serving in the Sinai. He is the son of the former Police Commissioner, the late Josefo Lewaicei.
*What role, if any Turaga played, await a detailed response from him.
Since Mrs Lewaicei is a professed Catholic (still not divorced) the marriage ceremony and party was held in a Lutheran Church
California Penal Code 281: Bigamy Legal Definition:
Every person having a spouse living, who marries or enters into a registered domestic partnership with any other person, except in the cases specified in Section 282 , is guilty of bigamy. PC 281 does not extend to any of the following:
(a) To any person by reason of any former marriage or former registered domestic partnership whose spouse by such marriage or registered domestic partnership has been absent for five successive years without being known to such person within that time to be living.
(b) To any person by reason of any former marriage, or any former registered domestic partnership, which has been pronounced void, annulled, or dissolved by the judgment of a competent court.
What does this mean? It is a crime in California for a person, already married, to get married to another person. It is also a crime to marry a person that is already married. Commonly, people will attempt to divorce but never finalize the legal paperwork for one reason or another.
People can live separately, not talk to each other, and believe that they are somehow divorced.
After this separation, the same person marries again without realizing that the divorce from their first marriage was never finalized (due to a lack of formality). In that case, they have committed bigamy.
Penalties
*Bigamy is a wobbler crime, meaning it can be charged as a misdemeanor or as a felony, based on the level of the deceit, your criminal history, and the specific facts of your case. If you are convicted of this charge as a misdemeanor, you could be sentenced to up to one year in County Jail.
If you are convicted of this offense as a felony, you could be sentenced to upwards of 16 months, two or three years in State Prison.
