Fiji's Chief Justice Salesi Temo demands jail time over missing NZ$6.25m cocaine

Fiji's Chief Justice wants whoever is found responsible for seven missing bars of cocaine to be jailed and removed from the judiciary.

Salesi Temo's call comes as Police investigate how more than FJ$8 million (NZ$6.25 million) worth of drug exhibits disappeared from the Suva High Court.

Speaking to the media outside his chambers at the High Court complex, Temo says the drugs should never have remained in the court's exhibit room after a major drug case was decided.

He has questioned why the cocaine was not destroyed earlier.

“Whoever is going to be found to be responsible, I'd like to see that person in jail. There’s no room for that kind of person in our judicial,” Temo said.

“Whoever this guy who stole it... I want to speak to his face after, you know, get out of the judicial system and let justice take its course.”

In January, 2630 seized parcels of cocaine from Ba tested positive for the drug, weighing 2.64 tonnes and with an estimated street value of NZ$970.64 million. Photo/Facebook/Fiji Police

Seven of 39 cocaine bars held as exhibits in the High Court have gone missing. They were linked to the case of Canadian national Joshua Rahman, who was convicted and sentenced to 23 years in prison in 2021.

The cocaine was seized in 2019 and was valued at about FJ$31m (NZ$24.21m).

The seizure comes amid other major cocaine interceptions in the Pacific. In January, French authorities seized 4.87 tonnes of cocaine in French Polynesian waters with Australian authorities saying the drugs were reportedly bound for Australia.

Canadian national Joshua Rahman was convicted and sentenced to 23 years in prison in a case involving the cocaine seized in Fiji in 2019. Photo/The Fiji Times/Jona Konataci

The January Vatia seizure also led to charges against two men from Ba. A 26-year-old man faces charges including unlawful importation and possession of illicit drugs while a 39-year-old man faces charges of unlawful possession and serious assault. Police say investigations into others allegedly involved are continuing.

Police say the missing exhibits from the Rahman case were discovered during a physical inspection last week after concerns were raised about the court-held evidence.

Loraini Seru, Assistant Commissioner of Police Crime, said the inspection was attended by senior judiciary officials, a senior Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions representative, Police and a Crime Scene Investigations officer.

The inspection found the exhibits had allegedly been tampered with while seven bars were missing from the original 39.

“Investigations are underway by a team from the CID,” Seru said in her press statement.

Police have not said when the cocaine was last accounted for or exactly how it disappeared. No arrests have been announced.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Crime Loraini Seru says a CID team is investigating the missing cocaine exhibits. Photo/The Fiji Times/Alifereti Sakiasi

Temo said the drugs should have been destroyed after Rahman's conviction and sentence.

He criticised the prosecutor responsible for the case, saying no application was made to destroy the drugs after the conviction, during the appeal process or before the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.

“Even at the Supreme Court level, the prosecutor didn't tell us that the drugs hadn't been destroyed yet,” Temo said. “So, in my view, whoever the prosecutor in charge of the case is not organised.”

The Chief Justice said destroying large quantities of seized drugs before or after trial was standard practice and pointed to another case where an application was made to destroy more than four tonnes of methamphetamine before trial.

The Rahman case later went through the Court of Appeal before the Supreme Court restored his conviction and 23-year sentence on 28 August this year.

Temo said the incident should be a lesson for both the judiciary and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions especially around the security of court exhibits.

Watch Chief Justice Salesi Temo speak to media outside his chambers in Suva below.

He said the remaining 32 bars would need to be dealt with and that judges and magistrates had previously been warned to ensure drug exhibits were destroyed promptly.

Three High Court officials are understood to be among those being looked at in the investigation. They include a senior High Court clerk, a clerk officer and a court orderly now based at the High Court in Ba.

Police, the judiciary, and senior government legal officials have also met over the missing exhibits. Police Commissioner Rusiate Tudravu, ACP Seru, Chief Registrar Tomasi Bainivalu, Acting DPP Nancy Tikoisuva, and Acting Attorney-General Siromi Turaga attended a meeting at the Attorney-General's Office.

Police investigations are continuing.