SG's Office gave directive on Bainimarama’s pension calculation – Cabinet Officer

The Office of the Solicitor General gave a directive on the pension calculation of former Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama.

The Principal Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet highlighted this while giving evidence in Bainimarama’s pension hearing during a special court sitting today before Suva High Court Judge Justice Daniel Goundar.

She says that when Bainimarama requested his pension with gratuity, they sought a general review from the Solicitor General’s Office.

She further explained that the advice included that the pension calculation should be based on the salary received for each respective year.

The Principal Assistant Secretary says the determination to reduce the salaries of the Prime Minister, Ministers and Assistant Ministers by 20 percent was still in effect when Bainimarama retired.

She further says that there was no directive from the Secretary General to Parliament to reinstate the pay.

During cross-examination by Devanesh Sharma, she agreed that the determination had an expiry date, from March 27th, 2020 to December 31st, 2020.

The Head of Corporate Services in the Office of the Prime Minister also testified that following the legal opinion from the Solicitor General’s Office, the calculation process began.

He confirms that the 75 percent pension cap applied from 2007 to 2017.

During cross-examination, he admitted that there was confusion regarding the calculation, as the pension should have been calculated based on the retirement salary.

Meanwhile, the Principal Accounts Officer for the Ministry of Finance says that in 2021, a budget announcement was made to continue with the 20 percent pay cut.

She explained that the former Prime Minister was receiving his salary under two different payroll systems, and confirmed that before 2012, Bainimarama was paid under the RFMF roll.

Justice Goundar questioned under which position Bainimarama was being paid, as this could affect the pension calculation.

State Counsel, Ofa Solimailangi asked if any instruction was given to reinstate the pay, the Principal Accounts Officer added that after the budget announcement, no further instruction was given.

During cross-examination, she confirmed that the suspension of pay is a temporary measure, and if there had been no budget announcement, they would have proceeded with the determination of suspension.

Bainimarama earlier told Court that his pension should have been calculated based on his full salary, not the 20 percent reduced rate implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bainimarama has sued the government for miscalculating his pension and gratuity entitlements.

He claims that his pension should have been $246,562.50 annually, but was instead reduced to $184,921.87.

He also alleges that the gratuity payment was reduced and should have been $770,507.87, but he was paid $433,296.75.

The former Prime Minister is seeking the remaining gratuity balance with a 13.5 percent annual interest.

Justice Goundar has given 21 days to the State and defence to submit their closing arguments.

The judgement will be given on notice.