The National Federation Party has submitted to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Justice, Law and Human Rights, that Section 10(3) in the Code of Conduct Bill 2018 should be deleted so that the Accountability and Transparency Commission has the power to investigate anonymous complaints if it wishes to do so.
This was highlighted by the President of NFP Pio Tikoduadua while making their submission to the Committee.
Tikoduadua says that owing to Fiji’s complex political climate, majority of people are afraid to lodge complaints against people in positions of authority for fear of victimization and prejudice.
Section 10(3) of the Code of Conduct Bill states the Commission must neither accept nor investigate any complaint from an anonymous person.
Tikoduadua says even in the course of the election campaign they came across several people who witnessed breaches of the Electoral Act but were too afraid to come forward on the record to give evidence about them.
He says if an anonymous complaint is received, it is sometimes hard to investigate if the complainant will notm identify himself or herself to give the relevant evidence, but that is not always so.
Tikoduadua says sometimes the truth of a complaint can be established through other sources.
He says if an anonymous complaint cannot be investigated for lack of evidence it can be dismissed, but it should not be dismissed just because it is anonymous.
The National Federation Party has also stated that Section 12(1)(b)of the Code of Conduct Bill allows the Commission to dismiss malicious or politically motivated complaints.
The section of the bill states that the Accountability and Transparency Commission must investigate any complaint received by them, unless the Commission is of the opinion that the complaint is malicious or is politically motivated or is made for the purpose of discrediting, defaming, or causing reputational damage to the person the subject of the complaint.
Tikoduadua says the suggestion that a complaint should be dismissed because it is politically motivated is unusual and there is no need for this.
He says this means, for example, that if there is a clear complaint that a Minister has been acting inappropriately with a lobbyist, even if the evidence is clear and the matter easily capable of investigation, it can be dismissed because, an Opposition Member of Parliament or a person who is a member of an opposition political party made the complaint.
Tikoduadua says after making the complaint, the complainant can be prosecuted.
He says the same is true about complaints which are allegedly made for the purposes of discrediting or causing reputational damage to the subject of the complaint.
NFP also stresses that the Accountability and Transparency Commission will be a toothless tiger.
Tikoduadua says the end result of the Code of Conduct is that government will promote the Commission as an example of so‑called transparency and accountability.
Public submissions continue on the bill.
