PM Rabuka refuses to concede Malimali case defeat

Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka is leaving the Government’s next move in the Barbara Malimali case to his legal advisers, while refusing to concede that the latest court ruling means the former Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC) Commissioner has won.

Mr Rabuka said yesterday he had yet to form a final view on High Court judge Justice Dane Tuiqereqere’s 153-page ruling, which declared the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) report null and void and quashed adverse findings against the applicants.

“I have not made up my opinion. I’m waiting for my counsel to read the 153 pages,” he said when asked whether the Government would appeal.

The ruling also found that President Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu and Mr Rabuka had failed to afford the applicants natural justice.

The Prime Minister’s comments come amid renewed questions over remarks he made earlier in February, when he said he was considering resigning if the appeal process in the earlier Malimali case failed.

That statement was made after the High Court ruled that Ms Malimali’s removal as FICAC Commissioner was unlawful, amid calls for Mr Rabuka to step down.

Asked yesterday whether he would still resign following last Friday’s ruling, Mr Rabuka challenged the suggestion that Ms Malimali and the other applicants had won the case.

“Have they won the case?” he asked.

When told they had, he replied: “No, they have not. Read the report again.”

The latest ruling has placed fresh political and legal pressure on the Government, particularly over the process followed in dealing with Ms Malimali and the subsequent Commission of Inquiry.