Deputy Fiji Corrections Service Commissioner Auta Moceisuva has told the Constitutional Offices Commission Tribunal, which is looking into allegations of misbehaviour against suspended Commissioner Dr. Jalesi Nakarawa, that Dr. Nakarawa personally handed him his wife’s application letter for the Nurse Practitioner’s position.
While reading his affidavit in the Suva High Court, Moceisuva said he raised his concern with Dr. Nakarawa that the application could be a possible conflict of interest but Dr. Nakarawa responded that his wife had consulted her colleagues in the nursing profession, and from her understanding, there had been similar cases of such application processes at her former workplace.
Moceisuva says Dr. Nakarawa also told him that his wife felt that, with her qualifications, she had the right to apply for the Nurse Practitioner’s position.
He added that he then passed the application to Mrs Salesia Racaca, who also raised the same concern.
Moceisuva also highlighted that the Nurse Practitioner’s position was not on the approved list of new positions endorsed by the Ministry of Finance, but instead, the divisional nurse position was approved.
He says the Nurse Practitioner’s position was created by Dr. Nakarawa based on his own assessment as an important area of focus.
The Deputy Commissioner says the inclusion of the Nurse Practitioner position was approved by Dr. Nakarawa at the expense of trading off certain other positions.
He added that when the advertisement from the Ministry of Finance, specifically for the divisional nurse position, was published in August or September 2024, Dr. Nakarawa was furious because it did not reflect the Nurse Practitioner position.
Moceisuva said Racaca, Akuila Namakadre and he were summoned to appear before Dr. Nakarawa on a Saturday morning, where the Commissioner expressed serious concern that some positions were not included in the advertisement.
He said that the following Monday, he received a demotion letter and was reassigned to another role as Assistant Commissioner for Policy, Training and Rehabilitation.
Moceisuva also stated in court that he was not involved in the recruitment process of Jeremaia Yavala, the stepson of Dr. Nakarawa.
He says Yavala was appointed as a temporary Correctional Officer Class C on 9th October 2024 by the Commissioner and was posted to the engineering unit on a short-term contract.
He also says that on 28th October 2024, he sent an email to Racaca instructing him to transfer Yavala from the engineering unit to the CCTV unit, as he was verbally directed by Dr. Nakarawa to do so.
Moceisuva told the court that Dr. Nakarawa informed him that Yavala had complained to his mother that he was doing hard labour in the engineering unit and was not used to lifting bags of cement or handling steel and wood.
He said Dr. Nakarawa further mentioned that there was a need for more manpower in the CCTV supervisor’s office based on the workload at that time.
The Deputy Commissioner says that a little later, due to poor performance, Yavala was terminated from the Fiji Corrections Service.
Moceisuva revealed that Yavala was terminated for poor performance, frequent absenteeism, and an incident where he was allegedly drunk at a bus stand, which reflected poorly on the institution.
When asked by lawyer Juleen Fatiaki on the normal process of submitting applications, Moceisuva says all applications are submitted electronically or it is brought to their reception.
When cross-examined by Dr Nakarawa’s lawyer, Sevuloni Valenitabua if he had raised the issue of receiving Mrs Nakarawa’s application from Dr Nakarawa himself to the line-minister, the Deputy Commissioner says he is only obliged to look at operations.
He says he has served with five commissioners and has not seen any of their wives applying for a position in the Corrections Service.
When asked about the Welfare and Sports Fund that was used to fund the NHQ Wives Volleyball tournament and the purchase of a drawer for the Commissioner’s residence, Moceisuva says the approval was wrong because it should have been brought before the board for discussion but this was not done.
He says when the drawer issue was brought to them, the drawer was already in the Commissioner’s residence.
The tribunal continues this afternoon.
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