Chief Executive Officer at MSG Logistics, Amit Chand
Why minor offenders are remanded but people caught multiple times with drugs remain on bail.
These are the words of Chief Executive Officer at MSG Logistics, Amit Chand while speaking during the public consultations held by the Ministry of Policing on the Counter Narcotics Bill at the Suva Civic Centre.
Chand is raising concerns about prosecution reforms, saying he finds it confusing that people caught with drug offences are often sent on bail.
He adds compromised officers and weaknesses in prosecution processes are major concerns as we discuss the proposed Counter Narcotics Bill.
INSERT: Chand on prosecution reforms 12th Feb
Chand says current bail practices frequently allow high-risk accused to be released, creating opportunities for evidence tampering, witness intimidation, and continued criminal activities.
He says while he welcomes the forward-looking initiative and the formal establishment and empowering of the Counter Narcotics Bureau, the most critical factor is integrity within the system.
He adds that the Counter Narcotics Bureau is an intelligence-based operation specifically targeted to infiltrate cartels and gather specific inputs to target them, stressing that one compromised officer with access can leak sensitive information and sabotage investigations.
INSERT: Chand on compromising operation 12th Feb
Chand says the success or failure of the proposed Counter Narcotics Bill will not depend on the wording of the law, but on whether people who are not corrupt are placed in the right positions.
He says every officer working in an intelligence-based organisation must be randomly polygraphed, and where that is not available, their lifestyle must be audited.
Chand says in a small country like Fiji, where cartels are deploying narcotic submarines that require millions of dollars to launch, corrupting a few key individuals in the right places is pocket change for them.
He stresses that organisations must invest in vetting people and that narcotics operations should not only involve police officers but also customs, navy and possibly military intelligence in a joint operations framework.
Chand also calls for the government and institutions to rise above politics and self-protection, saying real progress requires leadership that puts national security and public safety ahead of partisan politics, personal loyalties and institutional reputations.
He says in Fiji, when someone is compromised, the first instinct is to protect the institution, but transferring or reinstating the same people does not help, as they may still have access to intelligence in such a small country.
Chand says Fiji receives support from Australia, New Zealand, the United States and other intelligence agencies, and appreciates joint operations and border patrol efforts, but must be more assertive in stating its priorities and seek what it truly requires, including assistance in anti-corruption, capacity building, independence, vetting expertise, polygraph support, domestic resilience programmes and sustained local oversight of intelligence-based operations.
He questions who monitors those on the frontline conducting narcotics operations.
Chand says Fiji has shown it can reduce general crime and strengthen law enforcement, and while the Counter Narcotics Bill and Bureau represent a necessary step, structures alone will not stop syndicates that can afford multi-million dollar narcotics submarines.
He reiterates that unless the domino effect is prevented at its source by placing incorruptible people in the right positions, no bill or law will be adequate to address what the country is facing.
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