Rocco Leo remains at undisclosed location in Fiji

Leader of Agape Ministries and alleged doomsday cult leader Rocco Leo remains at an undisclosed location in Fiji with two others and there is confirmation today that the Australian authorities have not made any attempts to extradite him to answer to certain charges in their courts.

Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum confirmed that his office has received no applications from Australia after Leo and two others were taken into immigration custody.

Director of Immigration, Major Nemani Vuniwaqa has only said that Leo is in custody at an undisclosed location and further decisions are yet to be made.
 
Meanwhile South Australian independent Senator Nick Xenophon has questioned the resolve of SA police to bring Rocco Leo back to Australia to face fraud charges.

Leo was arrested in Fiji last month for visa breaches along with his closest associates Marie Veneziano and her brother Joseph.

He fled Australia last year just before SA police raided several of the Agape cult’s properties in Adelaide seizing guns, slow burning fuses, detonators, extendable batons and 35,000 rounds of ammunition.

SA Police have a warrant out for his arrest, alleging 126 counts of fraud.

He also faces civil action from two former followers who say they were allegedly tricked into giving him more than $1.5 million.

Senator Xenophon told Sydney Morning Herald today that it was up to SA authorities to seek Leo’s extradition from Fiji but he had been told no request was likely to be made.
 
He also released letters he had received from Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor and Fiji’s Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama.

Commodore Bainimarama told Senator Xenophon that Fiji would assist with any application for extradition but no request had come from the federal government.


Story by: Vijay Narayan