The Home Affairs Ministry is trying to establish how the child of a Grace Road Church member was able to acquire a passport on the eve of a possible investigation into allegations of human rights abuse by the mother of the young church member.
Confirming that an inquiry would now be carried out by the Fiji Police Force’s Criminal Investigations Department, Acting Home Affairs Minister Filimoni Vosarogo said the integrity of the Immigration Department was at stake.
“The issue at the heart of the investigation is whether the child was entitled to a Fijian passport,” said Mr Vosarogo.
“Further, an investigation is needed to determine how the child was able to get a passport on the eve of a planned flight out of the country, possibly to avoid investigation into the recent complaint of the mother.
“The integrity of our Immigration system is at stake.
“That is why the investigation was directed to commence last week.”
Mr Vosarogo said there were legislative provisions that allowed children born in Fiji to be citizens but there were also exceptions.
“The ambit of this investigation is more than that,” he added.
Mr Vosarogo said in pursuit of ensuring a fair and unhindered investigation, the Director of Immigration, Amelia Kamoisavai, and the Manager Passports were relieved of their duties.
“Acting appointments to those two posts have also been done to ensure work continues.
“The Director CID has been asked through the Commissioner of Police to conduct investigations and determine if there were breaches of standard operating procedures in the issuance of the passport, by who and how.
“The CID has commenced investigations and has started taking statements to narrow down the scope of interest.”
Mr Vosarogo said they envisage the investigation being wrapped up by the end of next week with a report submitted with findings and recommendations tabled with the minister and permanent secretary for Home Affairs, Mason Smith, the following week.
Meanwhile, Acting Commissioner of Police Juki Fong Chew confirmed an investigation was in progress.
“The CID team had already started the investigation based upon the report by the mother, which also covers the issuance of passport and by whose decision,” he said.
