Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama has strongly denied claims made by two former Fijian journalists that he tried to mount three coups before his successful takeover in December 2006.
Oxford based academic Victor Lal and Russell Hunter the former publisher of the Fiji Sun, wrote in the Weekend Herald that Commodore Bainimarama had tried to take over the country after the Speight coup in 2000, and then again in 2004 and 2005.
The authors wrote of leaked correspondence from some of the commodore’s fellow officers urging him not to proceed and warning that they would oppose him.
However in an interview with Australian journalist Graham Davis in Suva, the Prime Minister said the allegations are “not true”.
In the case of 2000, Lal and Hunter reported that Commodore Bainimarama demanded that the military be given the authority to rule Fiji for 50 years but they claim that this was opposed by the then President Ratu Josefa Iloilo.
Commodore Bainimarama said he was already in control of Fiji in 2000.
The Prime Minister said it was a historical fact that he had handed power to Qarase hoping that he would govern for all Fijians and not just the i-taukei majority.
Commodore Bainimarama also denied he made subsequent attempts to seize power before his successful coup in 2006.
He said Hunter was motivated by anger that he had been expelled from Fiji after 2006.
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