Social media medical practitioner and self-declared COVID-19 expert Jone Hawea was questioned by the Criminal Investigations Department in Suva yesterday.

Mr Hawea, who had no clinical experience in the treatment of COVID-19, had been part of many online forums and had given his views as an expert on the issue.

Police spokesperson Ana Naisoro confirmed that Mr Hawea was arrested on Tuesday evening at his home in Lautoka and was brought to Suva for questioning.

Ms Naisoro said investigations centred around spreading misinformation to the general public.

In his latest post on social media, Mr Hawea claimed that 50 deaths in Fiji had been due to COVID-19 vaccines.

At the beginning of this month, another of Mr Hawea’s conspiracy theories was dispelled by fact checks.

It was also confirmed that Mr Hawea did his last registration with the Fiji Medical Council in 2019, however it is believed that he made moves to register at the beginning of August.

Fiji’s laws clearly indicate that a person has to be registered to practice and have medical indemnity.

And while not registered, Mr Hawea has sat on panels as an expert opinion on medical matters having no ground or clinical experience with COVID-19.

Mr Hawea has made other claims and statements regarding COVID-19 which have lacked scientific backing and have been based on conspiracy theories.

Fiji Medical Association had stated that the basis of Mr Hawea’s theories and arguments lacked or omitted important scientific information which was then used to skew his view that COVID-19 vaccinations were not beneficial.

He was still being questioned yesterday afternoon.