Frank Bainimarama and suspended police commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho were charged with abuse of office, weeks after the former leader was banished from parliament for insulting the president.
| Fiji’s former leader, Frank Bainimarama was released on bail on Friday after pleading not guilty to a charge that he abused his power as prime minister by stopping a police investigation.
Mr Bainimarama, 68, in December lost a tense election to Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka. Last month, he was suspended from parliament for three years for insulting the president, and this week he resigned from parliament in protest. Director of public prosecutions Christopher Pryde said in a statement that Mr Bainimarama and Mr Qiliho had “arbitrarily and in abuse of the authority of their respective offices, terminated an active police investigation” after a complaint was laid with the police by the university in July 2019 in relation to “the activities of former staff members”.
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