Police are investigating a claim that a person, allegedly impersonating a senior Police officer, tried to solicit money from a man charged with  drink driving.

Police Commissioner Brigadier-General Sitiveni Qiliho said an investigation had been launched by the Police Internal Affairs Department.

“There is no place for dirty cops in the force,” said Brigadier-General Qiliho.

“So, if a cop is involved, he or she has no place in the Fiji Police Force.

“But, we will thoroughly investigate and take that person to task.”

He encouraged people to report such allegations to his office.

A Suva man, who had lodged the complaint, was taken into custody on Sunday for driving under the influence of liquor.

Yesterday, he received calls from a person falsely claiming to be Director Traffic, Senior Superintendent of Police Mahesh Mishra. The man said the details given by the caller about his case were identical.

The caller demanded money in return for the file of the drink -driving case.

The first call was received at around 8am during which the caller identified himself as SSP Mishra, Director Traffic.

The caller asked the drink driving man for money to be deposited in a bank account.

This was followed by at least four phone calls throughout the day where the caller attempted to negotiate and again demanded that the money be quickly deposited.

The caller said that he would be bringing the Police file with him to hand over to the drink-driving man after the money had been deposited.

SSP Mishra, speaking from Savusavu, said this was the first time he had heard his name being used to solicit money. He said those involved would be taken to task and face the full brunt of law.

Edited by Naisa Koroi

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