Bainimarama had authority to sack Fiji First MPs – FICAC ruling

Former Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama was still a registered voter and held the position of office holder within the Fiji First Party at the time he signed letters to sack party members who had voted for a motion to raise salaries in Parliament.

As such the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC) said no charges will be filed against Mr Bainimarama.

The complaint against him was that despite being convicted on 9 May 2024 for the offence of attempting to pervert the course of justice, Mr Bainimarama continued to act as the Leader of the Fiji First Party and issued instructions to its Members of Parliament.

“FICAC’s investigation revealed that Mr. Bainimarama was served a “𝑵𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑹𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒂𝒍 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑵𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝑹𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝑽𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔” dated 30 May 2024,” said FICAC.

“However, he did not respond within the required fourteen (14) day period, resulting in his removal from the National Register of Voters on 14 June 2024, in accordance with Section 13 (1) – (4) of the Electoral (Registration of Voters) Act 2012.”

“Subsequently, the “𝑳𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑹𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑵𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝑹𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝑽𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒅 1 𝑱𝒂𝒏𝒖𝒂𝒓𝒚 2024 𝒕𝒐 31 𝑫𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 2024” was officially published on 14 February 2025, pursuant to Section 13 (5) of the same Act.”

“Based on this timeline, FICAC determined that Mr. Bainimarama was still a registered voter and held the position of Office Holder within the Fiji First Party at the time he signed the letter on 30 May 2024.”

“As such, he was still legally eligible to serve as Party Leader under Section 5(1)(d) of the Political Parties (Registration, Conduct, Funding and Disclosures) Act 2013.”