Fiji attorney-general says Law Society file seizure legal

Updated May 25, 2009 16:10:26

Lawyers in Fiji will have to reapply for licences under the terms and conditions of the President's latest decree, which stipulates that annual licences issued in February will now expire at the end of June with applications for new ones closing on June the 15th.

Interim attorney-general Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum maintains that Chief Registrar Anna Rokomokoti's actions in seizing files from the Law Society offices at the weekend was legal under the new decree.

Presenter: Geraldine Coutts
Speaker: Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, Fiji Interim Attorney-General

SAYED-KHAIYUM: It hasn't been deregulated. There has been a new legal practitioner degree that has been put in. Essentially there is about four or five key main elements to the decree. First of all, the practicing certificate that used to be issued by the Law Society will now be issued by the chief registrar. Now the practicing certificates had always been issued by the chief registrar until 1997, when the responsibility was given to the Law Society. Number two is that we have created a Legal Services Commission. The third aspect of it is that we have introduced new and spelt out definitions of professional or unsatisfactory professional conduct. The other aspect of it is linked to the issuance of the practicing certificate. This year, obviously, the practicing certificates have been issued in February this year to last 'til next year. What we've said though is that those participating certificates will now come to an end at the end of June this year and should anybody wish to continue as a legal practitioner, then they will need to apply for a new practicing certificate by the 15th of June this year and the chief registrar will issue one from 1 July this year to last until February next year.

And the other important aspect, of course, is that the powers that the Law Society had was to actually hear the disciplinary matters, now that provision has been taken away, complaints are lodged at the chief registrar.

COUTTS: Well, there's been a bit of an issue about the chief registrar, Ana Rokomokoti, in the manner in which she retained the files from the Law Society, that she just presented, demanded the keys and did not have a warrant to take files or computers away.

SAYED-KHAIYUM: Well again, I think, unfortunately you are relying on representation made by only one side. I saw the email has been signed off by the vice-president of the Law Society and you can actually talk to the Secretary of the Fiji Law Society who is the person involved and she will actually testify and verify the fact that what has been said in the email is not incorrect. And I obviously ascertain to find out exactly what transpired as I was concerned and the chief registrar approached the secretary of the Law Society, showed her the decree and she handed the keys over to her and she went over to the office to get the files, which the secretary then said that she wanted to come along to see and point them in the right direction as to where the complaint files were which she did. That is exactly what happened. The email has been sent by the vice-president of the Law Society is misrepresentative of what had happened that afternoon. The decree empowers in one of the traditional provisions, empowers the chief registrar to immediately upon the decree come into affect, to access those files. Now there is obviously a very good reason as to why it was done. If you have filed a complaints, 80 or 90 or 110 are impending, some of them for a number of years and some of them from what I am told are against about six or five of the eight sitting council members, then obviously there is a conflict of interest.

COUTTS: Actually, on the issue of complaints. It has been alleged for some time that the Fiji Law Society was looking into a complaint against you?

SAYED-KHAIYUM: Well, there was a complaint made by an anonymous person that I should not have participated in this government as a lawyer, that was the complaint. And when they wrote back to me, when they sent me the complaint and I wrote back and answered further in other particulars which was in May or June last year, I have not heard back from them.