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Former Fiji PM Bainimarama arrested, charged

Frank Bainimarama has been charged by police over allegations of abuse of office during his term in government.

Former Fiji prime minister Frank Bainimarama was taken in for questioning by local police on Tuesday. Picture: AFP
Former Fiji prime minister Frank Bainimarama was taken in for questioning by local police on Tuesday. Picture: AFP

Former Fiji prime minister Frank Bainimarama has been charged by police over allegations of abuse of office during his term in government and was expected to be held in custody in police cells overnight.

Mr Bainimarama, along with former attorney-general Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum and former health minister Neil Sharma, were taken in for questioning by Fiji police on Tuesday.

Mr Bainimarama was charged over allegations that as minister for finance he recklessly abused his position by waiving a tender bid for hospital engineering ser­vices in 2011 “without lawful justification”.

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum was accused of intentionally obstructing Fiji’s Independent Commission Against Corruption probe into the claims by directing that all investigations be shelved until further notice. Dr Sharma was charged with abuse of office and breach of trust over his alleged role in the tender process.

The three men will face court in Suva on Wednesday.

The charges come at a time of rising tension in Fiji, with Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka facing rebellion within his coalition.

The Rabuka government has been shaken in recent weeks by a sex scandal involving a tryst between two cabinet ministers: Minister for Women and Children Lynda Tabuya and Mr Rabuka’s former son-in-law, Aseri Radrodro. Both denied the affair, with Ms Tabuya claiming intimate images she had allegedly sent to Mr Radrodro were “fakes”.

Mr Rabuka sacked Mr Radrodro, one of three minority-party MPs that gave him the numbers to form government, just over a year ago.

The University of Tasmania’s Richard Herr, a former director of the Centre for International and Regional Affairs at the University of Fiji, said the scandal’s fallout posed a serious threat to Mr ­Rabuka’s hold on government

The recent appointment of a senior Fijian military officer allegedly responsible for human rights abuses as deputy commander of the Australian Army’s 7th Brigade prompted speculation in the country that it was a bid by Mr Rabuka to lessen the risk of a coup by pro-Bainimarama forces. Colonel Penioni (Ben) Naliva, a Bainimarama loyalist, is regarded in Fiji as the officer most able to stage a coup against an already unstable government.

The Australian and Fijian governments have been in crisis talks since the allegations were revealed by The Australian.

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/former-fiji-pm-bainimarama-arrested-charged/news-story/61364879d634f52e43170d42d59062b9