Lawyers representing witnesses summoned to give evidence in the ongoing inquiry into the appointment of lawyer Barbara Malimali as head of the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC) have been directed to confine their questions appropriately to improve efficiency in court proceedings.
On the day hearings were supposed to conclude per the commission’s tentative schedule, evidence was still being heard from the eighth of 35 witnesses. Originally scheduled for two hours, the current witness, FICAC investigation team manager Kuliniasi Saumi, has been on the stand since Friday.
“I’ve given direction to the lawyers that because we are so far behind, they need to focus on relevance…to confine their questions to matters that affect their clients,” Justice David Ashton-Lewis said. “Now they have been doing that, but some of that had been too wide.”
According to Justice Ashton-Lewis, repetition has also occurred, with some lawyers re-asking previously answered questions during witness questioning.
The commission’s tentative hearing schedule allocated time slots for each witness starting last Monday, with hearings initially expected to conclude today. However, by the conclusion of the morning session at Veiuto’s Court of Appeal complex, Saumi was still expected to return to the witness box in the afternoon. This delay means key legal and political figures in Fiji—such as Chief Justice Salesi Temo, Attorney General Graham Leung, Fiji Law Society’s Wylie Clarke, MPs Lynda Tabuya and Semi Koroilavesau, Deputy PMs Professor Biman Prasad and Manoa Kamikamica, Malimali herself, and complainant Alex Forwood, whose complaint prompted the inquiry—are yet to give their respective accounts before the commission.
Scheduled to testify next are FICAC investigator Alifereti Wakanivesi and FICAC’s Manager Legal Laite Bokini who were initially slated to give evidence last Tuesday. Those who have already testified include Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, Supervisor of Elections Ana Mataiciwa, some members of the Electoral Commission, where Malimali previously served as chairperson before her FICAC appointment, as well as Constitutional Offices Commission members Minister of Justice Siromi Turaga and Leader of the Opposition Inia Seruiratu.
Malimali’s three-year appointment, effective from 5 September 2024, was not without controversy. Aside from attracting mixed reactions, it was preceded by FICAC officers raiding the Electoral Commission’s office for evidence related to a complaint lodged against her. Malimali was subsequently arrested by FICAC officers—reportedly on the orders of then-acting Deputy FICAC Commissioner Francis Pulewai—upon her arrival at the FICAC office on her first day of work. Pulewai, who resigned later that day, is also among the witnesses still to testify before the commission.
With her appointment, Malimali became the first woman to hold the post, succeeding Rashmi Aslam, who resigned after 12 years.
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