Parliament approves removal of bill

THE disestablishment of the provision for the AntiCorruption Division of the High Court and the Magistrate Court was approved in Parliament on Thursday.

The Bill, which was tabled in Parliament on Monday, went into voting where 29 members of Parliament voted for it, 24 voted against it and two did not vote.

Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Siromi Turaga said there was no data to justify a special anti-corruption court.

“While the 2021 amendment was to provide for the establishment of the specialised anti-corruption division of the High Court and Magistrate Court in Fiji, this has not been the case,” he said.

“There are currently two specialised anti-corruption courts, and both are in Suva. This has meant that for the jurisdictions where there are no specialised courts, such as the outer jurisdictions, the same judges and magistrates will hear general criminal or civil matters (and) will also preside over anti corruption matters.

“This defeats the whole purpose of having specialised anti corruption courts.”

Mr Turaga said from May 1 to July 31 this year, the Investigation Department of FICAC recorded 280 matters.

“Of these 280 matters 265 matters were carried forward from previous quarters. The Legal and Prosecution Department of FICAC had also provided that as of July 31 this year, there are 180 cases pending before the courts.

“There are less corruption-related causes being filed on a day-to-day basis.

“With 180 pending cases before the court this is not so great a number that warrants the establishment of a specialised court.”

He said if anything, there should have been consideration for the establishment of specialised courts for serious sexual offences.

“As per the rape and sexual offences statistic released by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in 2020, 246 people were charged with a total 531 counts of sexual offences.

“In 2021 203 people were charged with a total of 461 counts of sexual offences in 2022, 322 people were charged with a total of 768 counts of serious sexual offences.”