The truth will prevail, said former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama outside court yesterday in Suva, after charges against him and suspended police commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho were dropped.
Mr Bainimarama was acquitted of charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
In a jam-packed court room, Magistrate Puamau said Mr Bainimarama and Mr Qiliho were credible witnesses who did not need to be crossexamined.
She said Mr Bainimarama had a clear grasp of how the Fiji Police Force worked.
While delivering her judgment in a packed magistrates’ court room, Ms Puamau said the State witness and former acting police commissioner Rusiate Tudravu came to court with an axe to grind.
“Following his dismissal from the Fiji Police Force due to an unrelated event,” she said.
“During his cross examinations he admitted on oath and in an open court he did what he did because he was afraid of losing his acting appointment as commissioner.
“And he had nothing in the explained transcript, nothing in the evidence and nothing in his oath testimony pointed to a single moment where Mr Bainimarama or indeed anyone else directed him to come out of the meeting and direct a stop into investigations into CID headquarters.
“All that needs to be said is that I’m not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Mr Bainimarama’s act had a tendency to deflect the police from revoking the jurisdictions of the court.
“Mr Qiliho testified that Mr Bainimarama had made that comment to him and as a recipient of the comment he understood Mr Bainimarama, to leave the investigations alone.
“To entrust it to the police officers under him and to focus his energy as the commissioner of police on winning the war against COVID-19.”
Ms Puamau said Mr Bainimarama testified that he made that comment on that particular day in June after a conference and not in July 2020.
“He had learnt that there had been a protest at the University of the South Pacific and he had learnt it from the media.
“He did not know much about it and asked the Police Commissioner about it.
“Commissioner Qiliho had told him that there had been a protest at the University of the South Pacific and they were concerned about the numbers that had increased from what had been approved.
“Commissioner Qiliho told him that there was an investigation into the matter which he directed.
“The first defendant (Mr Bainimarama) then suggested to Mr Qiliho to let police handle the investigations. “And he had more important things on his plate like COVID-19 control.
“He never made any suggestions to Commissioner Qiliho for him to stop the investigation.
“He simply thought that commissioner Qiliho had more important things on his plate, that dealing with the University of the South Pacific investigation, were to let his officers handle it as there were technical experts on the ground.
“And for Commissioner Qiliho to focus on the bigger picture which was COVID-19, he testified that was the only conversation he had with Mr Qiliho about the investigations highlighted in that media report.
“He assumed that if there was anything further on the matter that the police continued with their investigations.”
Ms Puamau said Mr Bainimarama remained unshaken in cross examinations about the comment he had made, its context and its intent.
“While I’m satisfied beyond reasonable doubt on the evidence, that investigations as it seems to CID headquarters could potentially lead to prosecution.
“For some offence, based on the evidence used in court during the trial, I find that I’m not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt of one — the fact that Mr Bainimarama had suggested to Commissioner of Police Sitiveni Qiliho to stay away from the USP investigations.
“And two that his comment consisted of an act which had the tendency to pervert the administration of justice, because suggesting to the commissioner to stay away from the investigation and to leave it with his officers to undertake that task while he focused on the bigger picture is not an act capable of constituting an attempt to pervert the course of justice.
“And three, that Mr Bainimarama intended to pervert the administration on public justice thereby.
“That being told, I find the first defendant not guilty by count one of attempting to pervert the course of justice.”
Ms Puamau also found suspended police commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho not guilty.
Ms Puamau said Mr Qiliho on oath told his officers to stop what they were doing and give him a brief.
“It was not instructed to stop the investigation at USP. Ms Puamau said when Mr Tudravu took the stand in court as a witness, he said Qiliho had told him and the entire Fiji Police Force to stop investigations into the complaint.
“Yet in the defence exhibit two, it was clear that was nothing logical to ground that conclusion.
“No such directive was issued and clearly some confusion as to what sort of investigation was reported. If in doubt one should ask for clarification, assumptions as they say can make donkeys out of people.”
Ms Puamau also told the court that Mr Qiliho was following a normal process, which he would tell his officers to stop what they were doing and give him a brief.
She said this was not to stop the investigation at USP, and Mr Qiliho was only aware of the investigation being stopped and filed away when he was taken into CID headquarters in 2022.
She also said Mr Qiliho was never briefed or updated on investigations in USP even during his return from studies from the United Kingdom on August 2021.
Both of them were charged a count each of attempting to pervert the course of justice and abuse of office in the case of alleged financial mismanagement at the University of the South Pacific by senior executives.
Meanwhile, Mr Qiliho said it would depend on the Constitutional Offices Commission if he were to resume his role as Police Commissioner.
“But right now I just want to acknowledge my Lord Jesus Christ and I’m going away to say my prayers,” he said.
Mr Bainimarama also thanked the many prayers of relatives and friends that were said on their behalf.
“We also thank our lawyers, our legal team Devanesh and Gul,” Mr Bainimarama said.
“And we also want to thank the magistrate Seini Puamau for breaking the confusion that has been put into place by the CID team in bringing up some charges.”
The State was represented by DPP Associate Nimisha Shankar and Assistant DPP Lee Burney stood as senior counsel yesterday while the defence lawyers were Devanesh Sharma and Gul Fatima.
After the judgment, the court observed a minute silence in memory of the former acting DPP, the late Ratu David Toganivalu.
