Pay Me Pension-Qarase

Ousted Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase had requested the Prime Minister's Office to pay him pension he would be entitled to as a former Prime Minister of Fiji, only three days after the interim government was sworn in on January 5th 2007.

The lawyer for Commodore Bainimarama and others, Queens Counsel Gerard McCoy yesterday produced the letter in the High Court which was handwritten by Qarase and signed off by him as the Former Prime Minister on January 8th 2007. Qarase admitted that he wrote the letter asking for his pension as former Prime Minister and choosing the second option to be paid a gratuity of $67,000 and fortnight payments of over $1,000. Qarase wrote in the letter requesting the Secretary to cabinet if the money could be deposited in his ANZ bank account.

McCoy questioned Qarase why he signed the letter as Former Prime Minister to get a financial reward but still maintains that he is the Prime Minister of Fiji. He said Qarase obviously knows that the pension is paid to the person who is no longer the Prime Minister.

Qarase replied that he knew that but he was enquiring if he could get the pension. He also revealed that all his parliamentary colleagues except him have received their pensions. However, he was told that he will not get the pension as he has not resigned as the Prime Minister of Fiji.