Former Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and former Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho in court this morning

Former Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and former Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho’s bail pending appeal has been denied by the Suva High Court.

Bainimarama and Qiliho’s counsels Devanesh Sharma and Gul Fatima had appealed that the sentence imposed on May 9 be suspended pending the determination of the appeal against conviction and sentence.

The former Prime Minister was sentenced to one-year imprisonment by Acting Chief Justice Salesi Temo while Qiliho was sentenced two years earlier this month.

Bainimarama was convicted of one count of attempting to pervert the course of justice, while Qiliho was found guilty of one count of abuse of office.

Bainimarama had directed the suspended Police Commissioner to stop an investigation into a police complaint on a University of the South Pacific matter sometime in July, 2020.

In his ruling today, Acting Chief Justice Salesi Temo said when considering whether or not to grant the two applicants bail pending appeal he considered the petition of appeal and grounds submitted.

The Acting CJ said that the test was there must be a very high likelihood of success in the appeal.

Justice Temo said that he does not see a very high likelihood of success in the appeal and in any event that question can only be answered by full Court of Appeal when they sit.

The Judge also said that although there are number of convicted persons queuing up for their appeal to be heard in the Court of Appeal, the applicants appeal should be heard this year.

Justice Temo also stated that although the two applicants were high profile people, in the appeal system every convicted person are equal before the law and must take their queue.

The Acting CJ said the two must serve their sentence as a matter of law until their appeal results are known.