Former Fiji prime minister sentenced to year in jail

Fiji’s former long-serving prime minister Frank Bainimarama was on Thursday sentenced to a year in prison for perverting the course of justice, the country’s director of public prosecutions said.

Bainimarama was initially spared jail in the case during sentencing last month, before being overturned on appeal.

A former military chief, Bainimarama came to power in a 2006 coup and later won democratic elections in 2014 and 2018.

He was found guilty this month by the High Court of attempting to pervert the course of justice while he was prime minister by telling then police commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho not to investigate allegations of graft at the region’s University of South Pacific, court documents show.

Qiliho was sentenced to two years in jail at the same hearing for abuse of office, the Fiji’s Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions said in a statement.

Bainimarama narrowly lost power in December 2022 to a coalition of parties led by current prime minister, Sitiveni Rabuka.