The Fiji Labour Party has welcomed the appointment of Graham Leung as the new Attorney General, however, they are concerned that former Attorney General, Siromi Turaga has been retained as the Minister for Justice as this could allegedly cost the taxpayer an additional $750,000 to set up a separate Ministry of Justice.
FLP Leader Mahendra Chaudhry says this government thinks money grows on trees.
He says they have just approved over $8 million to pay for the salary increases they awarded themselves, and now this is to keep Turaga happy.
Chaudhry urges the newly appointed Attorney General to take early action to have a substantive commissioner appointed to FICAC to expedite investigations into the several complaints referred to it against ministers in the coalition government by the Supervisor of Elections.
He says they believe the Acting Deputy Commissioner of FICAC has had difficulty expediting these cases.
He adds that Leung must act firmly and swiftly to clear the public perception of FICAC as an agent of the government of the day to protect its wrongdoers and target its critics.
Chaudhry says a code of conduct legislation- a constitutional requirement - is overdue by 11 years, fuelling unbridled corruption in the public and private sectors.
He says Leung must give it priority to enable the appointment of the constitutionally mandated Accountability and Transparency Commission – Section 121 of the 2013 Constitution. The FLP Leader says unless we get rid of corruption in this country, nothing will change.
We have sent questions to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Professor Biman Prasad regarding the concerns raised by FLP that retaining Turaga as Minister for Justice will cost the taxpayers an additional $750,000. Professor Prasad is yet to comment.
