Leung says COI Report is a travesty of justice and we are poisoning ourselves if we take this report seriously

Former Attorney General, Graham Leung says the Commission of Inquiry Report into the appointment of Barbara Malimali is a travesty of justice.

In a press conference, Leung says we are poisoning ourselves if we take this COI Report seriously.

He says the report’s conclusions are the triumph of idle social media prattle and lazy legal guesswork.

Leung highlighted the personal cost that the COI Report has extracted from all of us in Fiji by debasing our best instincts through social media gossip, picking at the ties of goodwill and community that have bound us together as a country, jumping to quick conclusions based on flimsy conspiracy theories so that we no longer recognise the presumption of innocence as an important principle, and how important it is that we all have access to fair and efficient justice, no matter the charge, no matter the situation.

He says one of the reasons he was ready to serve the government was because of the terrible cost that many of them paid as citizens during the Bainimarama years.

Leung says during those years, the law was used as a weapon to intimidate, to threaten and to silence.

He says accusations would be made and a presumption of guilt would be cast over the accused, causing friendships, families and workplaces to change. Leung says there was a real fear of associating with someone accused and this happened in all of our lives.

He says he looks at the Commission of Inquiry Report and sees the same thing.

Leung also highlighted that it is more than two months since the report was published, and he still has not received an official copy of the report detailing the official findings against him.

He says he still does not have access to the official transcripts, so he cannot verify, test or check, what was said and why the COI reached the findings that it did.

The former Attorney General says this is not the standard of justice or the rule of law that he spent his professional career defending.

Leung says the COI has been allowed to fester in our politics and national conversation for too long.

He says this is not who we are, and we are better than this.

Leung was appointed Attorney-General on 5th June last year and was dismissed by the Prime Minister on May 30th.

The Prime Minister said the COI Report made his position as Attorney-General ‘untenable’.

Leung says he takes strong exception to, and unequivocally rejects, the findings of the Commission of Inquiry insofar as they relate to his conduct during the appointment process of the FICAC Commissioner.

Leung says at all material times, he acted within the bounds of the law, with honesty, and in good faith. Stay with us for developments.