No officer of the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption has been identified as the person who former journalist Charlie Charters allegedly “aided and abetted” in publishing official information or charged, says his lawyer Seforan Fatiaki.
Mr Fatiaki, the lawyer for Mr Charters, made the comment to Magistrate Shageeth Somaratne as Mr Charters appeared in court yesterday for the first time after his arrest at Nadi Airport on Saturday.
There was momentary confusion in the court when the hearing began yesterday when FICAC lawyers realised that FICAC officers had not brought Mr Charters into the courtroom. Proceedings stopped while Mr Charters was found and brought in.
Mr Charters has been charged with two counts of aiding and abetting under Section 45 of the Crimes Act and Section 13(1)(g) of the FICAC Act 2007.
FICAC alleges that between November 2 and December 14, 2025, and February this year, Mr Charters intentionally aided and abetted a person who was at the material time an officer of the commission to commit an offence by publishing official information relating to the functions of the commission on his Facebook page without permission of the FICAC Commissioner.
But no such officer had been identified in the charges, Mr Fatiaki told the court.
Mr Charters was granted bail but ordered to surrender his passport, against Mr Fatiaki’s legal submissions. Mr Fatikai told the court that Mr Charters was a Hong Kong resident who was travelling through Fiji to collect his Fiji passport but needed to travel to an event in Sydney, Australia, as part of his employment.
Magistrate Somaratne said he would order the surrender of Mr Charters’s passport but would hear an application to vary bail orders urgently if Mr Charters applied for those orders.
When asked whether Mr Charters had any previous convictions or had ever absconded, given their request for strict bail conditions, the prosecution was unable to provide an answer.
Mr Charters holds dual citizenship of Fiji and the United Kingdom.
Given that the prosecution had no objection to bail, the court granted bail on the condition that Mr Charters does not reoffend or interfere with witnesses, along with other standard bail conditions.
Mr Fatiaki said a permanent stay application will be filed at the High Court in Suva against the prosecution, challenging the validity of Lavi Rokoika’s position as Acting FICAC Commissioner.
The case has been adjourned to March 2.
