Acting Chief Justice, Salesi Temo has overturned the ruling of the Magistrates Court to acquit former Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended Commissioner of Police, Brigadier-General Sitiveni Qiliho and has found them guilty as charged.
The matter will be called on Monday for entering their conviction, and the sentencing and mitigation submissions will be made next Wednesday.
Justice Temo has scheduled the sentencing hearing for 28 March, at 10 am before Resident Magistrate Seini Puamau.
Bainimarama has been found guilty of one count of attempt to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho has been found guilty of one count of abuse of office.
They were earlier found not guilty and were acquitted accordingly by the Magistrates Court.
According to the charges, 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.
As for Qiliho, it was alleged that 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 an arbitrary act of prejudicial to the rights to USP.
Justice Temo today said that he accepts that the State witnesses had proven their case beyond reasonable doubt and Magistrate Seini Puamau erred in law.
He had upheld the State’s grounds of appeals one, six, and eight for the first respondent (Bainimarama) and upheld grounds of appeal two, seven, and eight for the second respondent (Qiliho).
The State had filed eight grounds of appeal which mainly centered on the opinion that the Magistrate erred in law and in fact on several evidentiary and procedural issues, thereby resulting in an unfair trial and an erroneous verdict.
In his judgment, Justice Salesi Temo found that the Magistrate had erred in fact and in law when she found both the respondents not guilty and therefore overturned the Magistrate’s decision.
