‘FICAC Not on a Witch Hunt'
“My team is the people that keep me accountable. My team tells me if I am moving in the wrong direction,” she said.
Thursday 23 January 2025 | 15:44
FICAC Commissioner Barbara Malimali making her submission to the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence on January 22, 2025. Photo: Parliament of Fiji
Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC) Commissioner Barbara Malimali has reiterated that the commission is not focused on targeting political opponents or engaging in a witch hunt.
While acknowledging past perceptions of the commission, Ms Malimali assured that she would work to change this narrative moving forward.
She made the comments during her submission to the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence regarding FICAC’s 2018-2020 Annual Reports yesterday.
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Ms Malimali emphasises that FICAC treats all complaints equally and is free from political influence.
“Complainant and complaints are treated the same. We are free from that sort of political influence,” Ms Malimali said.
“We are not here to conduct a witch hunt on political opponents. Our processes are there. As long as I sit here, I’m not into any witch hunt on anybody.”
She further clarified the importance of accountability within her team, noting that her colleagues are responsible for ensuring she stays on the right path.
“My team is the people that keep me accountable. My team tells me if I am moving in the wrong direction,” she said.
She also outlined plans to strengthen FICAC’s internal monitoring and evaluation systems, which had previously been overlooked.
“Internally, we are having our own discussions and will be reinstating our monitoring and evaluation processes,” she explained.
“We are going to bring it back, it used to be there before but somehow it disappeared over the years, after everyone had looked into the cases, the team looks at the cases again internally.”
Acknowledging the perception that FICAC has been used as a political tool, Ms Malimali expressed her intention to change this view.
“We are aware of how we have been viewed as being weaponised for political opponents. We like that view to go. Rome was not built in a day,” she said.
Ms Malimali concluded by calling for public and leadership support to help FICAC stick to its mandate as defined by the 2013 Constitution.
“We need the support of the public, the leaders to ensure that we stick to our mandate as per the 2013 Constitution.”
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