Frank Bainimarama, who served as Fiji's prime minister for 15 years until his defeat in the 2022 elections, has been sentenced to one year in prison. The ruling comes after he was found guilty of abusing his power to shut down a corruption investigation into the University of the South Pacific.
Bainimarama, a former military chief who took power in a 2006 coup, won democratic elections in 2014 and 2018 before narrowly losing to the coalition led by the current Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, in December 2022. Despite his loss, the 70-year-old remains a prominent figure in Fijian politics.
The charges against Bainimarama stem from his instruction to the then-police commissioner, Sitiveni Qiliho, to refrain from investigating allegations of corruption at the University of the South Pacific. The case revolved around a 2020 police inquiry into alleged misconduct involving bonus payments, promotions, and pay raises within the institution.
Qiliho, a longtime ally of Bainimarama, was also implicated in the case and received a two-year prison sentence. The court found that the two men had used their influence to derail the investigation. Both Bainimarama and Qiliho denied the charges against them.
Since his electoral defeat, Bainimarama has faced mounting legal troubles under Rabuka's administration. In February 2023, he was suspended from parliament until 2026 for criticizing the new prime minister in a speech. A year later, he faced two separate charges of abuse of office – one related to the allegedly unlawful firing of two police officers in 2021, and another concerning his alleged waiver of a tender bid without proper justification when he served as finance minister in 2011.
