Fiji’s Attorney-General Graham Leung has called on the Acting Director of Public Prosecutions John Rabuku to do the honourable thing and resign.
In a statement, Leung said the office is bigger than the individual.
“It is regretted that the Acting Director of Public Prosecutions (Rabuku) has chosen to remain in office following the opinion of the Supreme Court,” Leung said.
Meanwhile, the Fiji Law Society is also urging the Acting Director of Public Prosecutions, John Rabuku, to immediately resign from his position and demonstrate that he respects the law of Fiji and the courts constituted under those laws.
In a statement, FLS President Wylie Clarke said last Friday, that the Supreme Court of Fiji delivered its unanimous opinion on a reference from the Cabinet under Section 91 of the Constitution.
Clarke said that kind of case is itself a rare event when the Cabinet of the country asks the Supreme Court to guide it on a matter of law.
He said the reference reminds all of us that even the most powerful people in the land respect and deter to the expertise of the Supreme Court on the rules that govern all of us.
Clarke said the Supreme Court ruled that Rabuku was disqualified from appointment as acting Director of Public Prosecutions under the Constitution.
He said in light of the Supreme Court’s clear opinion, the Fiji Law Society is deeply concerned that Rabuku remains in office.
“Statements attributed to him in today’s Fiji Sun quote him as saying that he will not resign and that he will not resign and that he will await formal communication from Cabinet or Judicial Service Commission.”
“In a society governed by the rule of law, all must obey it. High public officials such as Rabuku, who is legally qualified and whose office is central to the administration of justice, have a consequently higher duty to obey the law and not to try to frustrate it. It is not acceptable for him to stand on some official process to avoid meeting his clear duty to obey the law. He must know what his duty is and he should immediately take the steps which are required to leave to office.”
Clarke said that just as it was with Justice Alipate Qetaki (whose appointment was ruled lawful by the Supreme Court under the reference) the Society has no animosity against Rabuku and it bears him no ill will.
He added that the Society’s only interest, in this case, is to ensure that Rabuku, like everyone else in Fiji, honours and complies with the law.
