FIJI does not have a shortage of powers to fight financial crime — it has a shortage of capacity to turn those powers into convictions, Reserve Bank of Fiji Governor Ariff Ali has warned.
Mr Ali said giving the Financial Intelligence Unit greater powers would mean little if complex financial and cybercrime cases continued to face prosecution delays, capacity constraints and a lack of people equipped to take them through the courts.
Appearing before Parliament’s Standing Committee on Economic Affairs during consideration of the Fiji Financial Intelligence Unit (FFIU) Annual Report 2024, Mr Ali said the real test was not simply whether Fiji could detect financial crime, but whether it had the people and institutions capable of successfully prosecuting it.
“I think the real issue is, the way cybercrimes are being done, is making sure that we have the right people ultimately to prosecute them,” he said.
He said the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions needed the capacity to deal with increasingly complex cases.
Mr Ali also questioned the length of time between an alleged offence and a charge, saying Fiji’s anti-money laundering regime must be able to demonstrate that it has “teeth”.
“When did the event happen and when did you really finally end up in charging.”
He pointed to cases being dragged through the courts because witnesses, police officers or other parties failed to appear.
“There are a lot of cases that are dragged on and sometimes the witness does not turn up, the police does not turn up, or somebody does not turn in the case.”
While greater powers for the FFIU could be considered, Mr Ali said, expanding the intelligence unit’s authority was not a substitute for fixing weaknesses further down the enforcement chain.
He said Fiji’s recent successful drug prosecution in Nadi demonstrated that authorities could deliver strong outcomes when cases were effectively prosecuted, with a number of people receiving life sentences.
But he stressed that the ultimate power rests with the courts.
“Administrative penalties are easy with agencies that supervise but when it comes to charging and all those things, this is under domain of DPP and the police in my view.
“So yes, we can look at whether the FIU can be given more powers, but I think the final powers ultimately rest with the court.”
