ACTING Fiji Independence Commission Against Corruption (FICAC) commissioner Lavi Rokoika has told the parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence that a new monetary threshold has been introduced to guide how cases are prioritised and allow them to concentrate only on high value cases.
She said under the new policy, FICAC would immediately refer cases below a certain financial threshold to the Fiji Police Force, allowing the commission to concentrate on large-scale corruption.
“I believe that some cases, the monetary value was very, very miniscule for a private practitioner — that’s the amount of money that you would charge for two minutes of your time,” Ms Rokoika said.
“What we’ve done, and with a new unit — complaints unit and the investigations unit — for the files that were opened already, I put a monetary cap in there so that if it’s less than a specific amount, there has to be an immediate referral to the police.
“Immediate referral to the police, and this is on the basis so that we are able to concentrate on the high value cases.”
“Why are we running after the small fish when there are bigger suspects out there?”
She said the approach had already reduced the number of open cases and improved operational efficiency since she took office in June.
She said the measure was also designed to help clear a backlog of files accumulated over several years.
“You will note that the closures, since I started, increased on that basis.
“One of the reasons was I felt we should not be using a lot of our resources when we can transfer the file to the police and they’re happy to accept.”
Ms Rokoika said before the change, FICAC handled every complaint internally, regardless of the monetary amount involved.
