Prominent lawyer claims he received military 'threat'
Updated
782A prominent lawyer in Fiji says he has received a threatening phone call from the military. Graham Leung believes an article he wrote criticising the interim government called "Exposing the Lie" is the reason for the alleged call. Mr Leung also believes his email is being hacked and his phone calls tapped. Efforts made by Pacific Beat to contact Interim Prime Minister and military spokesman Commodore Frank Bainimarama regarding Mr Leung's allegations were unsuccessful. As a lawyer Mr Leung is currently part of the legal team defending businessman Ballu Khan for allegedly being involved in an assassination attempt on the interim prime minister and interim attorney general.
Presenter: Geraldine Coutts
Speakers: Fiji lawyer Graham Leung; Interim Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum
LEUNG: Well last Friday I received a phone call, basically the caller said that they had intercepted a letter that I had written to the Fiji Times criticising, that's what the person said, I believe, criticising the regime. And I knew it was from the military because when I immediately put the phone down on the man I checked the caller ID, the incoming call was a military number, which I then asked my business partner to call and he confirmed that it was indeed a military number.
COUTTS: And the person I presume did not identify his or herself?
LEUNG: No I didn't ask, I didn't have my wits about me, in fact my initial reaction was one of horror and shock. And so I wasn't sufficiently composed to ask his name. But I've described it as a threatening call because we have to remember that we've had a military coup, the number was a military number and immediately the tone of the caller sounded menacing to me. So in that context being the recipient of the call I felt threatened by the call and the caller. I certainly do know that I received a call that came from a military number, the number was ….
OPERATOR: You have reached Queen Elizabeth Barracks, if you know the extension please dial now or dial zero for operator assistance.
LEUNG: It's a number well known to me because I was previously a judge advocate for the military and as a long-time civil servant in a past career; there are numbers that you do know off by heart.
COUTTS: Today is a public holiday in Fiji and Pacific Beat has been unable to contact interim Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama in his capacity as military spokesman. And interim attorney general Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says he has only just heard about the alleged threatening phone call from the military to Mr Leung.
SAYED-KHAIYUM: Well I just read it today in the newspapers where he's made this allegation, that's the extent of my knowledge as far as phone calls that he's alleging were made to him.
COUTTS: Lawyer Graham Leung says he doesn't know how a draft of his opinion piece exposing a lie which is critical of the interim government found its way onto interim attorney general Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum's desk.
LEUNG: I don't know, I can't confirm this, but two of the persons I ran the draft past, two live in Fiji, and most certainly I know because I'm the author of the piece, it was never given to any newspaper in Fiji or overseas, certainly not in hard copy or electronic form. And so the only conclusion that I've been able to sensibly reach is that my desktop and my email has been hacked. Of course I can't be absolutely certain about it but how else would the interim attorney general have had a copy of an opinion that he wasn't copied on?
COUTTS: Interim attorney general Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says it's not a mystery.
SAYED-KHAIYUM: Well actually it's very simple, you probably now know about the meeting I had with the publisher of Fiji Times on Friday last week in which I gave copies of this article to him, to Evan Hannah. Those articles, or there were two versions of it, they in fact were sent to the Prime Minister's office by somebody from within Fiji Times to say that this was going to be published. And that's how I got hold of it and I do not intercept Graham Leung's email as he claims, nor do I have the time to those sort of things, I'm in fact an IT buffoon.
COUTTS: Mr Leung alleges that a colleague who had read the draft article also received a warning.
LEUNG: About the time that Fiji Times publisher was summonsed to the attorney general's office to talk about the opinion piece and whether they intended to run it, that was about the time I received a call last Friday. And also at the same time, or about the same time during the same afternoon a colleague of mine who I'd run the draft article past to give me perspectives from his point of view, he received a call also and basically he was told that he needed to be careful.
COUTTS: Mr Sayed-Khaiyum denies having editorial input into Mr Leung's article but is concerned that it's factually incorrect.
SAYED-KHAIYUM: That article is in fact factually incorrect in a number of areas and in fact it's making a number of very dramatic claims about the state of Fiji and the institutions within Fiji. It's also talking about a number of matters that are currently before the courts and so this was brought to the Prime Minister's attention. The Prime Minister as you know at the moment is extremely busy and he in fact wanted to meet up with the publisher but he then delegated that task to me.
COUTTS: Graham Leung also thinks his phone is being tapped.
LEUNG: I think there was a caller from the Australian Associated Press, he made a call to me earlier in the afternoon and when I said that, he said yeah, I actually feel there's a lot of echo on your phone. And it's just call it if you like a sixth sense that I do feel that my communications are being intercepted.
COUTTS: Pacific Beat asked interim attorney-general Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum if there is any hacking of phone tapping activity going on.
SAYED-KHAIYUM: Absolutely not, I've never authorised anybody to tap phones or hack into emails. The point is that unfortunately it appears to me that if a certain group of people in Fiji makes an allegation suddenly it becomes the truth, they are mere allegations.
