‘We didn’t need FICAC’: PM responds to Seruiratu

Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has defended his Government’s plan to dismantle the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC), saying the country did not need the anti-corruption body in the first place.

Responding to criticism from Opposition Leader Inia Seruiratu, Mr Rabuka said FICAC was introduced by members of the previous administration, including Mr Seruiratu.

Last week, the Prime Minister’s reported intention to dismantle FICAC drew strong criticism from Mr Seruiratu, who warned of growing instability in governance.

“We are now hearing the Prime Minister publicly state that he intends to dismantle the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption. Let me be clear, the problem is not the institution, the problem is what happens when appointments and leadership decisions are mishandled, politicised or conducted through flawed processes that erode public confidence,” Mr Seruiratu said.

Responding to Mr Seruiratu, the Prime Minister said: “We didn't need FICAC. It was his group that brought FICAC in. He was part of the government even before the enactment or the decreeing into being of FICAC. He was also part of that group,” Mr Rabuka said.

“That is the concept, the way of looking at the problems they might have seen in Fiji at the time to set up FICAC but we have very well-equipped prosecutorial duties and capabilities within the police and the public prosecution department to do that. Investigating, we have investigators who are capable of doing that.”

Mr Rabuka maintains that the Fiji Police Force and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions already have the capacity to investigate and prosecute corruption-related offences.