Suspended Commissioner of Police Brigadier-General Sitiveni Qiliho told the Magistrates Court in Suva yesterday that the charges brought forward by the Office of the Director of Prosecutions are part of a big conspiracy.
Qiliho said when Government was sworn in, it was reported widely in the media that the Prime Minister said that he could not work with him and the Minister for Home Affairs, Pio Tikoduadua had also asked him to resign.
He said senior Government officials in the current administration came to the Fiji Police Force seeking to charge him.
Qiliho also told the court that at no time did he tell the former CID Director SSP Serupepeli Neiko or Inspector Reshmi Dass to stop the investigation, related to the offence he is charged with.
He said he does not get involved in the investigation processes and this is fully dealt with professionals in the Fiji Police Force to handle investigation and the only time he got involved was on an operational matter which was to decide whether there was a need to allocate more resources and manpower for the investigation.
Qiliho said there was a time when investigating officers needed more vehicles and this was allowed.
He told the court that his directions to SSP Neiko and Inspector Dass was to stop what they were doing or drop what they were doing and to provide a briefing to him and he never at any time suggested to the two to stop investigation into the mismanagement of USP funds.
When asked by the Acting DPP David Toganivalu if it would be fair to say that Bainimarama asked for a brief, Qiliho says he is under oath now and cannot recall that if it was a call from Bainimarama or from his Office.
When asked again that he had told the investigating officer that he briefed Bainimarama, Qiliho again said that he is under oath and could not recall at this time.
During cross-examination and responding to Toganivalu’s question that is it possible that Bainimarama told him to stay away from the investigation, Qiliho said he has no doubt in his mind that Bainimarama wanted him to focus on the COVID-19 situation.
He said all decisions were not captured in the USP investigation including Acting Police Commissioner Rusiate Tudravu and Neiko’s decisions.
Qiliho disputed the accounts of Officer Rajesh Kumar’s notes in the docket that the file was closed on his directive and added they twisted his words to try and implicate him because of the pressure they were under.
Bainimarama is charged with a count of attempt to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho is charged with a count of abuse of office.
It is alleged that Bainimarama sometime in July 2020 as the Prime Minister directed the Police Commissioner to stop the investigation into a police complaint, in the abuse of the authority of his office, which was an arbitrary act prejudicial to the rights of the University of the South Pacific which is the complainant.
It is alleged that Qiliho on the 15th of July, 2020 as the Police Commissioner directed the Director of the Criminal Investigations Department, Serupepeli Neiko and Inspector Reshmi Dass to stop investigations into the police complaint by the USP, in the abuse of the authority of his office, which was arbitrary act of prejudicial to the rights to USP.
Bainimarama and Qiliho are represented by R Patel Lawyers Devanesh Sharma and Gul Fatima while Toganivalu is representing the State.
