Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka says he will appeal against a High Court decision quashing the report of a Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the appointment of a former head of the country’s anti-corruption agency.

The months-long inquiry, which cost the taxpayer around FJ$2 million (NZ$1.5m), has become a major political issue for Rabuka’s coalition government.

The COI, headed by Australian judge Justice David Ashton-Lewis, began on 31 October 2024 and was originally due to conclude on 31 January 2025, but continued until 1 May 2025.

Acting on the inquiry’s recommendations, Rabuka advised the country’s president that the then-commissioner of the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC), Barbara Malimali, should be sacked.

Malimali strongly challenged her suspension and subsequent sacking and launched a judicial review against Rabuka and President Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu.

Fiji’s High Court ruled in February that Malimali’s dismissal was unlawful, a decision immediately appealed by Rabuka.

Then, in June, the High Court rejected Rabuka’s attempt to stall its ruling that Malimali was illegally sacked.

Nearly two years after the inquiry was established, Rabuka faced another legal setback when the High Court ruled last Friday that the inquiry report, in its entirety, was null and void.

The High Court found that the inquiry’s work after 31 January 2025 was unlawful because its term had not been validly extended, and the president lacked the power to extend its term.

“[The] commission’s work from 1 February 2025, and the COI Report dated 1 May 2025, is ultra vires,” the judgement stated.

Ultra vires is a legal term meaning beyond lawful authority.

The ruling comes as political parties prepare for Fiji’s next general election, which is due later this year.

Following the court’s decision, Rabuka told local media he would appeal the decision and would resign if he failed in the Court of Appeal, or if necessary, the Supreme Court.

“I’m appealing the part that implies my activities and touch on my name [regarding] what I had done,” he said.

“I’m not the author of the COI. I made the recommendations and it’s up to the Attorney-General when he advised me and Solicitor-General. And my personal side, my legal counsel is doing.”

Asked if he would reisgn if the appeal failed, Rabuka replied: “Correct.”

“This is only the High Court. We [will] go to the Court of Appeal, and if [I’m not happy] with the Court of Appeal [decision], then we [will] go to the Supreme Court, and that’s the end.”

The Fiji Police Force has yet to charge any suspects four months after the alleged murder of the reportedly infamous Jone Vakarisi while he was in military custody.

Vakarisi, 37, who was widely known for being on the wrong side of the law and reportedly linked to criminal networks, died on 17 April after being taken for questioning by soldiers to the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) headquarters in Suva.

His death was initially attributed to pre-existing conditions by the RFMF commander Ro Jone Kalouniwai, who was later forced to issue a “correction” when police classified Vakarisi’s death as murder after a copy of Vakarisi’s death certificate was leaked online, exposing massive blunt force trauma to his head and chest.

Vakarisi’s sister Melehola Tagaga told Pacific Waves at the time that he begged for his life at the military barracks in Suva before allegedly being “bruatlised to death”.

Several weeks later in May, Kalouniwai admitted that the RFMF was “at fault” for Vakarisi’s death, describing it as an “unintentional” and “regrettable” incident.

However, more than 120 days after Vakarisi’s death, an active murder investigation remains open, while no one has been charged or presented in court.

In late July, the Fiji Sun reported that the case file on Vakarisi’s death was expected to be forwarded to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

“Police Commissioner Rusiate Tudravu confirmed yesterday that investigators were completing interviews with those involved before finalising the file,” the newspaper reported on 21 July.

“I can state that people need to trust the process that we are following. Investigation has been done,” Tudravu was quoted as saying.

Earlier this month, the police commissioner told local reporters that investigators continue to carry out house-to-house inquiries, collect witness statements, and examine forensic evidence as the probe intensifies.

He also called for “patience, understanding, and continued public support” for the joint police and military taskforce.

Local and international human rights groups condemned Vakarisi’s death in military custody, saying it reflected a “culture of impunity” within Fiji’s military forces.

Amnesty International’s Pacific researcher Kate Schuetze said the RFMF’s shifting excuses regarding Vakarisi’s death raised “more questions than answers”.

RNZ