Former Fijian PM Jailed for ‘Perverting the Course of Justice’

Frank Bainimarama, who led Fiji for 16 years, has been sentenced to a year in jail for perverting the course of justice. Sitiveni Qiliho, the former police commissioner during Mr. Bainimarama’s final years in power, was also sentenced to two years over the same incident, in which both men sought to influence a police investigation into financial mismanagement at the University of the South Pacific in 2019. The case was heard on appeal, after both men were found not guilty in the Magistrates Court last year when it ruled there was insufficient evidence. The conviction, handed down on May 9, is just one of many charges the former leader of Fiji’s 2006 military coup is facing, after losing office at the December 2022 general elections....