BARBARA Malimali has written a letter of complaint to the office of President Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu about comments by Commissioner of Inquiry Justice David Ashton-Lewis about her in an interview with an Australian radio station.
Ms Malimali’s lawyer, Tanya Waqanika, said yesterday that her client could sue Justice Ashton-Lewis, saying “we categorically deny and reject the statements made by Ashton-Lewis”.
“We have served the Office of the President and we have copied the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) and the Prime Minister’s Office our letter of complaint against Ashton-Lewis,” she said.
“His podcast is defamatory against our client and he is not immune from being sued.”
In an interview with Radio 4CRB in Australia, Justice Ashton-Lewis discussed his role in the Commission of Inquiry he chaired into her appointment as Commissioner of the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC).
“I found that nine of them obstructed the course of justice and that they also perverted the course of justice in the appointment of this particular woman,” he said.
“In other words, it became apparent in the investigation that this particular woman was shunted very quickly through the processes to get in. Now, the question then arises, why, why was she so important? Well, the rest of the evidence showed she was so important because she would do evil peoples designs.”
Justice Ashton-Lewis said that at the time of her appointment Ms Malimali was “universally seen as corrupt” and someone who “would protect high-ranking people, and any complaints made against them would be closed or decided quickly — not based on full evidence — and they would be found to have nothing to answer to”.
In the interview, he said, “She is unsuitable for the job. She is unqualified by dint of her background, and no one trusts her — well, no one except those who wanted her appointed. Now, those who wanted her in are still senior members of the government who claim to be totally committed to the current regime.
“But five of them have had terrible accusations made against them — complaints lodged with FICAC — and it’s been noticed that this woman is seemingly delaying them, has closed some, and so there’s been a push to form a presidential commission to look into her appointment: was her appointment carried out with fairness, justice, in accordance with the rule of law and integrity?”
Ms Waqanika said Justice Ashton-Lewis’ comments revealed his bias.
“He has done all the defence counsels a great favour by speaking of his bias in the COI Report. He has prejudiced the entire COI proceedings – judicial officers do not and will never speak publicly about any legal proceedings,” she said.
