*The presence and participation of Ratu Isoa Tikoca was a serious security breach and a diplomatic faux pass by the Fiji delegation in the meeting between the two Prime Ministers and their official delegations.
*We are told that Tikoca who had allegedly applied for Protection Visa from the Australian government might be posted by Rabuka as Fiji's Ambassador to Malaysia, an appointment he is planning to make soon, as he informed his 'meet and greet' Fiji audience in Canberra.
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'Bula Kai. I c you in most photos. Have you joined the [Fiji] Government in some unofficial position?'
'Just join[ed] them, and travelling with them'. TIKOCA's reply to Fijileaks  Victory Services Club, London |   |
IN HUNT FOR KHAIYUM'S 'MILLIONS': In 2015, I met up with Ratu Isoa Tikoca, along with two others, in the Victory Services Club, located in the heart of London. The Club is a tri-service, all ranks members club for retired and serving members of the Armed Forces. Tikoca was part of a Fiji parliamentary delegation visiting London.
*He took time out to meet up with us for dinner at the Club. Naturally, I was interested in his repeated claims about Aiyaz Kahiyum's so-called 'millions in overseas bank accounts'. He promised me that on his return to Fiji he would ask MICK BEDDOES to forward all the documents to me. To date, I have not received a shred of document from either Beddoes or Tikoca on Aiyaz Khaiyum's 'hidden millions overseas'.
*However, Fijileaks stood up for Tikoca when he was suspended from Parliament, and during his court case, until he left for Australia.
*We understand that while he was residing in Adelaide, he had applied for a Protection Visa from the Australian government, citing his feud with the Bainimarama-Khaiyum regime. We do not know what is his Immigration status in Australia.
*Whatever is his Immigration Status, we were shocked to see him in Rabuka's official delegation, even sitting across the table in Parliament House in Canberra, listening into (or even participating) in high-level bi-lateral talks.
*There are some who claim that Tikoca was there as 'Liaison Officer for Fiji Workers in the PALM scheme'. We refute the claim, for those present in the meet and greet meeting with Rabuka in Canberra claim that he told them that he was planning to appoint three or four 'Liaison Officers' in different parts of Australia. In any event, when Rabuka was meeting to discuss Pacific Labour Mobility issues with Albanese, it is the Minister for Labour or his Assistant Minister who should have been prominently present in Rabuka's delegation to help grill the Aussie Prime Minister for follow up purposes.
*We see Tikoca next to Lesi Korovalavala, the PS, Fiji Foreign Affairs, in most Fiji government issued photos. Incidentally, in the 1987 coups, both Rabuka and Tikoca were Korovalavala's senior, who until recently was hiding in Australia from the Bainimarama-Khaiyum regime. In 2007, despite being on the banned travel list, Korovalavala had slipped out of Fiji, first to Solomon Islands and later surfaced in Australia.
*In 2003 Korovalavala retired from the RFMF with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in order to become Deputy then Secretary for Home Affairs and Immigration in the Qarase government. He had a strained relationship with Commodore Bainimarama who removed him after the 2006 Coup and banned him from leaving Fiji but Korovalavala gave them the slip.
*Rabuka had appointed Tikoca as Commissioner Central from New York in 1994 after his appointment was termined by the UN Department of Peacekeeping for alleged disciplinary reasons. He was squatting with one of my kila vata from Tailevu in New York.
*Instead of getting the RFMF to conduct disciplinary proceedings against Tikoca, he was promoted as Commissioner Central and he was later promoted as Commissioner Western. Bainimarama later appointed him as Fiji's ambassador to PNG and the rest is history.
*We wonder if there was a massive failure on the part of the Australian Immigration, Foreign Affairs, and Intelligence authorities to conduct a thorough check on Tikoca's status in Australia, and his 'designated status by Rabuka' before Tikoca was cleared to join Rabuka's official delegation, and even to take part in bi-lateral talks?
In what capacity was Tikoca appearing in Rabuka's delegation?
Fiji and Australia must provide answers on Tikoca. Rabuka and rookie diplomat Ajay Amrit cannot just WHITEWASH the Diplomatic Faux Pas
