Court finds eight guilty of Fiji assassination plot

A Fiji court found eight men guilty of conspiracy to murder today in connection with a plot to assassinate the South Pacific island nation’s prime minister.

The eight were convicted of conspiring to kill armed forces chief Commodore Frank Bainimarama, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 2006. The defendants will be sentenced tomorrow and face up to 14 years in prison.

They include Ratu Inoke Takiveikata, a former senator and indigenous Fijian tribal leader, and former Fiji Intelligence Service director Metuisela Mua.

The six others are Sivaniolo Naulago, a former manager of IT company Pacific Connext, and five former soldiers of the now-disbanded elite Counter Revolutionary Warfare unit, Feoko Gadekibau, Barbados Mills, Eparama Waqatairewa, Kaminieli Vosavere and Pauliasi Romulo.

Eight other defendants were acquitted of taking part in the plot.

The 16 men were initially charged with conspiracy to assassinate Mr Bainimarama, attorney general Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum, then-finance minister Mahendra Chaudhry and two other senior military officers. The charges relating to all but Mr Bainimarama were later dropped.

When the arrests were first made, then-New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark said the plot allegations appeared to be a pretext to round up opponents of Fiji’s military government.

The military’s chief staff intelligence officer, Major Isireli Narawa, testified that the military first heard rumours of an assassination plot in February or March 2007.

Maj Narawa said he posed as a disgruntled senior army officer, willing to support the removal of Mr Bainimarama.

Narawa said he met Takiveikata in a hotel room in late October 2007, where he offered support and assurances that “he could arrange for the entry of the assassination team into the army barracks on the execution day to carry out the plan”.

He said he informed Mr Bainimarama and the police commissioner the following day. The defendants were arrested a short time later.