Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has stated that the suspended Director of Public Prosecutions, Christopher Pryde is entitled to continue receiving his salary until he is officially removed from office.
While responding to Pryde's claim that his salary has been stopped by the Government, Rabuka says he was not aware of any cessation of Pryde's salary.
He mentioned his intention is to consult with the relevant authorities responsible for handling Pryde's salary.
Rabuka emphasized that Pryde's salary should not be affected by his suspension and that he is entitled to continue receiving it until any official action is taken regarding his position.
Meanwhile, the suspended Director of Public Prosecutions has written to the New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters seeking assistance as he claims the Government cut off his salary payment at the four-year mark of his current seven-year contract.
In a letter to the New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister, Pryde says he is seeking assistance to address a grave injustice perpetrated against him which should serve as a warning to other New Zealanders who may be considering taking up positions in Fiji.
He says he is the substantive Director of Public Prosecutions for Fiji, a position he has held since 2011.
Pryde says while this issue may appear to be an internal one between the Government and him, the Fijian Government’s action in cutting off his salary has now meant that he is unable to effectively defend himself against totally unwarranted charges that have now been outstanding for 15 months, with no date set yet for a hearing, as the Fijian Constitution stipulates.
He adds the manner in which the Fijian government is handling this matter has implications beyond him and extends to other expatriate New Zealanders who may be considering taking up roles in the civil service or judiciary in Fiji.
The suspended DPP says it also has implications for New Zealand’s Pacific Reset if people sent from New Zealand are going to be treated in this manner in which false allegations are made and the goalposts for dealing with these allegations are continuously shifted.
Pryde says the sudden cessation of his salary at the eleventh hour while he was in the middle of instructing legal counsel in Fiji to defend himself against charges brought by the Fijian government is a denial of natural justice that has left him with little choice but to seek their assistance.
He says he has refrained from any public comment for the past 15 months trusting that the law in Fiji would take its course, but what has occurred is not only unlawful but is highly prejudicial to his own position.
He further says he is being deprived altogether of the income he needs to adequately defend himself against charges that are politically and perhaps racially motivated.
He adds the reason he is raising this possibility is because one of his assistant DPPs was dismissed after he was suspended and is submitting in legal proceedings for unfair dismissal that she was informed by the former Acting DPP, John Rabuku, that it was because she was “white”.
Pryde says the option is not open to him to pursue a claim for unfair dismissal because he has not been dismissed and he has been kept in a state of suspension for 15 months waiting for the law to take its course.
He adds that now, he is unable to properly defend himself because his salary has suddenly been suspended.
In the letter, Pryde highlighted the relevant circumstances of his case, saying that on the 28th of February 2023, he attended an official function at the Japanese Embassy in Suva in his capacity as the Director of Public Prosecutions.
He says he mingled with a number of invited guests including the former Attorney-General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.
He also says although nothing official was discussed with the former Attorney General, at the time of their meeting a police file on Sayed-Khaiyum had been forwarded to his office by the police.
Pryde says he had not read the file and was not aware of the contents and he later explained the circumstances of this chance encounter to the new Attorney General, Siromi Turaga, at his office a few days later when Turaga requested to see him after concerns had been raised to Turaga about him talking to Sayed-Khaiyum.
He says photographs were shown to him that were taken of their encounter at the Embassy.
He further says Turaga assured him that provided he wrote a letter of apology explaining the circumstances of the meeting with Sayed-Khaiyum, the matter would end there.
He adds at that meeting with Turaga, he also took the opportunity to raise with him the issue of certain people within the judiciary, namely Resident Magistrate Seini Puamau, attempting to undermine his position by contacting members of his staff and attempting to solicit information about him and asking them if they would be comfortable with a change of leadership.
Pryde says he informed Turaga that he had already made a complaint about this magistrate to the Acting Chief Justice but nothing had been done.
He says he considered this behaviour to be unwarranted and concerning interference in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and that he hoped he would take the matter further.
He also says, however, that on the 30th of March 2023, he received correspondence from the Judicial Services Commission that Turaga had made a complaint against him to which he gave a written response.
He says Turaga used his written apology to him as the basis for the complaint.
The suspended DPP says on 13th April 2023, he was suspended as Director of Public Prosecutions and was suspended on full pay pending an inquiry and a decision as to whether the President should convene a Tribunal.
He says under the Fijian Constitution, the Director of Public Prosecutions, as a constitutional office holder, can only be removed if a duly constituted Tribunal gives a finding of misbehaviour and if there is no finding of misbehaviour, he or she must be reinstated.
Pryde says after a delay of nearly one year, a Tribunal was established on 5th March, 2024 to investigate the charges, but to this day, no hearing date has been set.
He adds on 16th April, 2024, he was informed that the Tribunal’s mandate had been amended to include an additional charge of investigating him for receiving superannuation payments that had not been approved by the Judicial Services Commission.
He says he had already been in correspondence with the Judicial Services Commission on this issue and denied any wrongdoing, and he had also pointed out that these and all other entitlements were audited twice a year by the Government and the Auditor-General, and no issue had ever been raised.
Pryde says this charge was in addition to the original charge of being seen in the company of the former Attorney General, and he was also advised that there were other unspecified complaints, but no disclosure as to the nature of these new complaints was ever provided to him.
He says under the terms of his suspension, he was to continue receiving all contractual entitlements, and although his salary was still being paid, his superannuation payments were unilaterally ceased, without any notice to him.
He adds on 9th July, 2024, he wrote to the Judicial Services Commission enquiring when he should expect to receive his gratuity allowance, which was due in April 2024, and as this was a contractual entitlement, he was expecting to receive this as per the terms of his suspension, and it was already overdue by three months, again without any notice.
Pryde says on the same day, he received a letter from the President informing him that his salary and all contractual benefits would be suspended forthwith.
He says he was advised that this was on the basis that he had received superannuation payments from 2012 to 2023 without authorisation from the Judicial Services Commission.
He further says this was a widening of the time period from 2019 back to 2012 when he had been first appointed Director of Public Prosecutions and it also covers a 10-year period in which the current government was not in power.
He says he has not been given the opportunity to answer this latest allegation or to query the amounts claimed, and it appears to be yet another amendment to the Tribunal’s original investigation mandate.
The suspended Director adds it is now 15 months since his suspension as the Director of Public Prosecutions and there is still no date for a hearing.
He says as of Tuesday this week, his salary has been ceased and in order to defend these charges with adequate legal counsel, he must rely on personal savings with no income and no indication as to when the Tribunal’s investigation will be completed and a final decision is made.
Pryde further says it is clear that this latest action by the Government in unilaterally ceasing his salary is designed to put undue pressure on him and to deny him the opportunity to defend the allegations against him.
He says the delay and the manner in which this matter has been dealt with by the Government of Fiji, particularly the Judicial Services Commission, should be of concern to the New Zealand government for a number of reasons.
The suspended Director says first, the suspension of a constitutionally appointed officer of State is extremely serious, and as such, demands that any investigation should be without delay.
He adds the failure to convene a Tribunal and have the matter heard without delay represents a breach of the rule of law.
He says secondly, the unilateral cessation of the salary of a constitutionally-appointed officer is a breach of Fijian employment law and a clear attempt at intimidation to pressure him to resign.
He further says that ceasing his salary at this late stage deprives him of the ability to adequately defend the charges and the issue of superannuation payments is a matter that is currently before the Tribunal.
Pryde adds the cessation of salary in these circumstances before any adverse findings have been made by the Tribunal is pre-empting the findings of the Tribunal and is unconscionable.
He adds, thirdly, there are other New Zealand citizens who have taken up positions in the criminal justice system in Fiji who may be potentially adversely impacted if the Fijian Government is permitted to ignore due process and the rule of law.
He says fourthly, the New Zealand Government provides substantial aid to Fiji in support of the rule of law which is being undermined.
Pryde says for these reasons, he is requesting that the New Zealand Government raise these concerns urgently with the Fijian government on his behalf as a New Zealand citizen and he is also requesting assistance to enable him to continue to employ legal counsel to pursue his constitutional right to a Tribunal hearing.
He says he is aware that this issue may be seen as an internal one for the Fijian Government and him to settle on their own, however, the issues raised go beyond being merely a local issue and have regional implications in terms of the rule of law.
He also says if the Fijian Government is aware that the New Zealand Government is observing the process, it may feel obliged to ensure the rule of law is not ignored and that his right to defend himself is upheld.
We are currently trying to get a response from the Chair of the Judicial Services Commission - Acting Chief Justice Salesi Temo.
Stay tuned for the latest news on our radio stations
