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Kidnap plotters to be charged?
Fiji police have recommended the prosecution of four people on a charge of plotting to kidnap and assassinate Mahendra Chaudhry, then prime minister, during a political march in April 2000, two weeks before a coup that later deposed him, according to Police Commissioner Andrew Hughes.
He says investigations are also underway into an alleged plot to bomb Nadi Airport in 2000 and another plot to murder members of Chaudhry's short-lived government.
Files on suspected financiers of the 2000 coup will soon go to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
Suspects included seven individuals, six companies and an organisation.
Hughes said in light of fresh evidence, the police will ask the DPP to “revisit” the files of four of the 14 people alleged to have helped the plotting and execution of the May 14, 2000 coup when Chaudhry's one year-old Fiji Labour Party government was taken captive at gunpoint in parliament by civilian and army militants led by a businessman, George Speight. They were held captive for 56 days until their release was negotiated by army commander, Frank Bainimarama.
Chaudhry, the country's first elected Indian prime minister, was targeted by Fijian nationalists intent on the preservation of permanent supreme political power for ethnic Fijians.
In recent weeks, Chaudhry, now opposition leader, has complained publicly and in a letter to Hughes about what he said was the apparent reluctance of the police to press on with the coup investigations.
Hughes, an Australian federal police officer who took over as Fiji police commissioner in July 2003 on a five-year contract, says there was no attempt by senior officers to disrupt the investigations as claimed by Chaudhry and other critics.
He wasn't surprised that such a long time was needed to “untangle the web of conspiracies, actions and inactions that accompanied these crimes”.
Apart from the jailing of Speight and a few other ringleaders, more than 2000 people have been investigated and 728 charged with a total of 22 types of Penal Code offences related to the coup.
“I venture to suggest that there has been no incident of such a criminal magnitude in the recent history of our (Pacific) region,” Hughes says.
Ceding Banaban to Fiji?
The Banaban people, who mass migrated to Rabi, an island in Fiji they bought from Banaban Island which is part of the Republic of Kiribati, want to cede Banaban from Kiribati to Fiji, according to a member of the Rabi council of leaders, Teitirake Corrie.
About 5000 Banabans live at Rabi and some return briefly to their home island from time to time to maintain ownership rights.
A now exhausted phosphate mine obliterated much of Banaban's agricultural land and the island became barely tenable.
In 1945, the then British colonial administration persuaded the Banabans to move to Rabi, a fertile coconut plantation island. Most Banabans are now Fiji citizens but retain access to Banaban.
The Rabi island council is in dispute with the Kiribati government which it claims has refused to pay a pension of about US$23 a month to about 100 elderly people said to qualify for it from a fund built up with phosphate royalties.
Tuilaepa says no to overseas voters
Samoa's Electoral Commissioner has told the opposition leader, Le Mamea Ropati, that there are no plans to register Samoan voters through Samoa's diplomatic mission in New Zealand.
Le Mamea said he was disappointed with the response because it meant that a provision in the law that registration of voters would be carried out overseas won't be followed, according to a Radio New Zealand International report.
He said the Electoral Commissioner should ask the government for funds to register Samoan voters in New Zealand. But Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, in an interview with the Samoa Observer, said no funds would be allocated for this purpose even if asked.
Tuilaepa says those Samoans who want to vote have to come to Samoa to register and cast their ballots.
Meanwhile, Samoa's March 31 general election will be contested by at least five political parties: the ruling Human Rights Protection Party, which is expected to retain power, the parliamentary opposition Samoa Democratic United Party, the newly formed Samoa Party led by Su'a Rimoni Ah Chong, a controversial former government auditor sacked for exposing corruption, the Samoa Progressive Party (SPP), led by a former government minister, and the Samoa Christian Party, formed with the objective of fielding about 15 female candidates for a parliament dominated overwhelmingly by males. The SPP leader, Toalepaiali'i Toesulsulu Siveva Pose, was charged with negligent driving .
Opposition leader cleared
Papua New Guinea's Opposition Leader, Peter O'Neill, has been cleared of fraud charges by a magistrate who accepted a defence lawyer's argument that there was no case to answer.
Director of Police Prosecutions, Thomas Eluh expressed surprised about the decision by magistrate Mekeo Gauli and said he would refer the case documents to the Public Prosecutor for possible pursuit of the case in the national court. O'Neill claimed the charges against him were politically motivated.
He was accused of seven counts of misappropriation and one count of conspiracy in connection to huge losses suffered by the PNG national provident fund in the 1990s. It was alleged that O'Neill conspired with the fund's former general manager, Jimmy Maladina, and others, including two Japanese construction company executives, in a deal for the construction of an office tower in Port Moresby. O'Neill was alleged to have received money through a real estate business owned by him.
Taiwan's US$800,000 grant
The Marshall Islands, one of six Pacific Islands states that recognises Taiwan in defiance of China's objections will receive an US$800,000 grant from Taiwan for starting a microcredit scheme. Taiwanese financial advisers are working on the scheme and also one for a national financial trust.
Tokelau referendum
About 600 of Tokelau's 1500 resident people will vote in a February 11-15 referendum to decide whether their three small atolls should continue to be a New Zealand colony or become a self-governing country in association with New Zealand.
If, as expected, they choose free association, Tokelau and New Zealand will enter into a treaty for it. The United Nations and various other observers will watch the referendum which is not open to the thousands of Tokelauans who have settled in New Zealand.
New labour laws
Tonga's government, nearly paralysed late last year by an unprecedented six-week pay strike by the civil service it had to capitulate to, is drafting new labour laws based largely on a new labour bill to be enacted by the Fiji parliament later this year.
The government says the bill will be for the protection of “everybody,” employers and workers. A trade union just formed by the public service is an innovation in a country without a trade union tradition.
Euro gets nod from assembly
French Polynesia's legislative assembly has passed a motion backing the introduction of the European currency, the Euro. Thirty six of the 57 MPs voted in favour of the Euro, according to Oceania Flash.
However, the French Polynesia's former ruling party, the Tahoeraa Huiraatira (now the main component of the opposition), voted against (18 votes), saying it would have preferred to have a group sent to the European Union's headquarters in Brussels and to Paris before any further decision is made.
The move has also triggered cautious reactions from local consumer associations, who fear the introduction of the Euro, could force the prices of goods and services to go up.
Temaru's cabinet stress
French Polynesia's ruling coalition, led by its pro-independence leader Oscar Temaru, is experiencing some stress at cabinet level after the appointment of vice-president Jacqui Drollet to replace Emile Vanfasse as finance minister.
Vanfasse resigned for health reasons. Post and telecommunications minister Emile Vernaudon, who leads one of Temaru's coalition party allies, complained that the seven coalition party partners hadn't been consulted about Drollet's appointment, although he wouldn't be leaving the coalition because of it, according to Tahitipresse.
He said he would have nominated a candidate for the finance portfolio and his party, Ai'a Api, would have preferred a general cabinet reshuffle to have taken place.
Vernaudon is awaiting a court decision on his appeal against a corruption conviction.
He says if his appeal fails, he will have to resign as mayor of Mahina but not from cabinet.
Religious denominations to register
Vanuatu is to re-introduce the registration of all religious denominations in the country.
Religious Affairs Minister, George Wells said Vanuatu was concerned that many new churches hide behind the “freedom of worship” provision in the national constitution to build their own personal empires.
“This work will be done in close collaboration with the governing body of churches in Vanuatu, the Vanuatu Council of Churches,” he said.
Fitial hires lobbyist despite money woes
The Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas (CNMI)'s financial condition is not getting any better. But the new governor Benigno Fitial says he will still hire a lobbyist in Washington, D.C. to “save” the garment industry from a “federal takeover”.
Governor Fitial said his administration will hire a lobbyist so that the CNMI can retain control over its labour and immigration policies. “(We will hire) the best (lobbyist),” he said.
“As a matter of fact we have received a proposal from the number one lobbyist in Washington D.C.”
But he's declined naming the lobbyist.
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