SUVA – Lawyers for Fiji’s suspended National Federation Party have told election authorities their suspension of the party is against democracy and a breach of the constitution.

The party and its three MPs have been suspended for thirty days following the authorities’ concern about the auditing of the party’s accounts.

The Supervisor of Elections suspended the party on Monday saying its accounts had been audited by an accountant without a Certificate of Public Practice.

But in a letter to the Supervisor, Mohammed Saneem, lawyer Richard Naidu said his interpretation of the Political Parties Decree is incorrect.

He also asks why Saneem exercised his discretion to suspend the party without giving the party the opportunity to be heard especially as he knew about the matter six weeks before.

Naidu has called for the “purported” suspension to be lifted and asked Saneem to raise his concerns about the audit with the party in a reasonable and proportionate way.

He said to deprive members of the NFP of their rights is inimical to the democratic process and a breach of their political rights under the constitution.

Naidu has asked the matters to be addressed to avoid an appeal to the High Court.

The now-suspended members cannot attend next week’s parliamentary sitting.

After seeking legal advice from the Solicitor-General’s Office yesterday, Speaker of Parliament Dr Jiko Luveni said the suspension of the registration of a political party had the effect of suspending that political party and all its members from parliament.

“This means that any such suspended political party and all its members cannot participate in parliament or in any of the committees of parliament,” Dr Luveni said. - PNC

Police officers face more charges

SUVA – Fiji’s Director of Public Prosecutions has filed additional charges against the police and military officers accused of raping a civilian in police custody last year.

Vilikesa Soko died in hospital as a result of the injuries he sustained in the attack, but manslaughter charges were dropped in October.

The director, Christopher Pryde, said he had filed additional charges against the nine accused – the sexual assault of Soko, and the sexual assault and attempted rape of another man, Senijeli Boila.

Pryde said the serious nature of the charges means he will seek to have the officers’ bail revoked.

According to documents on the website Fijileaks, two of the accused, Manasa Talala and Viliami Vereivalu, were suspended from the force and banned from entering police property by the former commissioner, Ben Groenewald. Groenewald resigned late last year and left the country, citing constant military interference, and was replaced by Sitiveni Qiliho, a former military commander who is now seeking the position permanently.

Qiliho reinstated Talala and Vereivalu to the force, and the pair are now involved with the investigation into the former deputy police commissioner, Henry Brown. Brown resigned last month following an announcement that he was being investigated for what Qiliho called a “serious internal matter.”

Pryde said he is extremely concerned that the accused officers have been reinstated to the force, saying the move is unacceptable and represents a real risk of interference with investigations.

- RNZI

- TORRENTIAL RAIN CUTS OF PNG PROVINCIAL CAPITAL: Heavy rain has cut off access to air and sea transport in Popondetta, the capital of Papua New Guinea’s Oro province. The Post Courier reports that two main bridges linking the airport and main wharf to Popondetta town have been washed away as a result of heavy rain. As a result, air and sea transport authorities have issued press releases stating that services to and from the town are halted effective immediately and will stay that way until the bridges are fixed.