Fijian coup leader and ex-PM Bainimarama charged with 'abuse of office', arrested

Along with ex-top cop, Frank Bainimarama to spend night in detention before being presented in court

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – Coup leader and former Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama was arrested, along with a former police commissioner, on Thursday on charges of “abuse of office.”

Bainimarama and Sitiveni Qiliho will spend the night in jail before being presented in court on Friday, ABC News reported.

The two are being questioned about whether they interfered in 2019 during an investigation into a decade of financial mismanagement at the University of the South Pacific.

"The former prime minister … and the suspended police commissioner … are alleged to have arbitrarily and in abuse of the authority of their respective offices, terminated an active police investigation," a statement from the Fiji Director of Public Prosecutions Christopher Pryde said.

After launching a coup in 2006, Bainimarama ruled Fiji for 16 years before losing the national election last December.

Kaynak:

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