Counsel assisting the Malimali Commission of Inquiry (COI) Janet Mason says she has not read in detail the “leaked” contents of the COI report being circulated online.
“But from the little I have seen, it does look to be the final version which the COI submitted,” she said.
Asked if the leaked report and its contents were authentic, she replied: “I cannot answer this as I haven’t looked at what has been leaked in detail.”
Ms Mason said she didn’t have time to review the material on social media.
“It looks like the leak has come from someone who had a hard spiral bound copy of the report. The COI does not have any further role in the report, including in relation to who is given copies of it.
“Control of the report is now with the various Fiji Government agencies and officers involved in implementing its recommendations.”
Ms Mason said the report may have been scanned or snapshots taken of every page before being distributed anonymously online.
She said it was best to ask police on the possibilities of tracing how the report was leaked or who leaked it.
“If the leak was from abroad, then police from that country would need to be involved, and it would be very, very difficult to locate the source.
“Even if the leak came from Fiji, that in itself would be very difficult to locate. The Fiji Government can always instigate an investigation of its IT systems to see if it was sent out using a government email address. However, there are many ways for a leak to occur i.e. scanning on to another device or taking snapshots from a phone.
“This makes it very difficult to identify the source of a leak.”
Ms Mason said the leak of the COI report was disappointing.
“The decision to release it publicly was a decision for the President, advised by the Prime Minister. If it had been made clear to the recipient of the report that it was confidential and should not be disclosed to anyone (as I presume had been done), then an issue arises under s 202 of the Crimes Act 2009.”
Section 202 of the Crimes Act outlines that anyone who disobeys a lawful order, warrant, or command issued by a court, officer, or authorised public official commits a summary offence. The penalty for the offence is imprisonment for two years, unless the law specifies a different penalty or procedure for such disobedience.
