State witness alleges that former Chair of USP Council was interfering in internal investigations with their whistleblower programs

The first State witness in the trial of former Prime Minister, Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended Police Commissioner, Sitiveni Qiliho has alleged that former Chair of the USP Council, Winston Thompson was interfering in their internal investigations with their whistleblower programs, and the staff were scared to come forward due to fear of getting reprimanded.

USP's Director Assurance and Compliance, Dulari Traill, who is currently giving evidence, says on the 6th of March 2019 she was summoned before the Executive Council about the whistleblower policy.

She further says at this point she and her team were still weighing their options on whether to take the issues forward to the Police or to FICAC to ensure incidents like this do not happen.

Traill says she decided to take their case to FICAC on the 17th of April where she had an appointment with FICAC Director of Investigations, Isireli Tagicaki.

She further says after discussing with Tagicaki on the issues regarding money allegedly being given to certain individuals that were not deserving of it, FICAC tried to get her to join their anonymous whistleblower program.

The State witness says that they made an agreement with FICAC for them to look at criminal matters while her team looked at the internal processes.

She alleges that after her visit to FICAC, Chair of the USP Council, Winston Thompson started interfering in their investigations.

Traill says Thompson was insistent they interview Professor Rajesh Chandra.

She further says on her return from Samoa on the 16th of April 2019, she lodged a report with FICAC who then served USP with search warrants and uplifted records from them.

The State witness says at the beginning, FICAC officers were liaising with her team regarding different personnel or records.

She says after an executive meeting, things changed and the FICAC officers told her that they were given instructions to stop investigating because of a complaint made to them about a leak of documents on social media and that they were now investigating Professor Pal Ahluwalia.

Bainimarama is charged with a count of attempt to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho is charged with a count of abuse of office.

It is alleged that Bainimarama sometime in July 2020 as the Prime Minister directed the Police Commissioner to stop the investigation into a police complaint, in the abuse of the authority of his office, which was an arbitrary act prejudicial to the rights of the University of the South Pacific which is the complainant.

It is alleged that Qiliho on the 15th of July, 2020 as the Police Commissioner directed the Director of the Criminal Investigations Department, Serupepeli Neiko and Inspector Reshmi Dass to stop investigations into the police complaint by the USP, in the abuse of the authority of his office, which was arbitrary act of prejudicial to the rights to USP.

The trial continues.

Stay with us for updates.