Filimone Vosarogo told local media his appointment to Attorney General by prime minister Sitiveni Rabuka will come into effect on 17 October 2023. Photo: Fiji Parliament Media
The president of the Fiji Law Society has called on the government to withdraw his appointment of Filimoni Vosarogo as the country's attorney-general.
In a signed media statement, society president Wylie Clarke said it is a matter of public record that Vosarogo - as a legal practitioner - pleaded guilty in a number of disciplinary proceedings before the Independent Legal Services Commission.
Clarke said they have advised Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka this disqualifies Vosarogo from holding the office of Attorney-General under section 96 (2) (b) of the 2013 Constitution.
He said a fundamental principle of the rule of law is that the law applies equally to everyone, including the government of the day.
Sitiveni Rabuka has yet to publicly respond to the law society president's statement.
Vosarogo defends appointment
Meanwhile, Fiji Village has reported Filimoni Vosarogo challenging anyone who doesn't agree with his appointment to take the matter up with the courts.
The village said the complaints against Vosarogo's appointment relate to formal orders of the Independent Legal Services Commission in a case filed against him in 2016.
The then-commissioner Dr Thomas Hickie said guilty pleas were entered to four counts of professional misconduct against Vosarogo by his legal counsel on June 7, 2017.
But Vosarogo told theVillage the commission was not a guilt-finding body. He said that is the domain of criminal courts, not a tribunal like the Independent Legal Services Commission.
Vosarogo added that section 96 of Fiji's Constitution, which sets out the conditions for the appointment of the Attorney-General, is a product of poor and moot legislative drafting because it seeks to provide a disqualification provision that does not correlate with the substantive law for legal practitioners.
He said his ministerial reassignment to the position of Attorney-General is valid and will come into force on Tuesday, October 17.
But the president of the Fiji Law Society, Wylie Clarke, in his statement, responded to Filimoni Vosarogo's comments to media and said they were unedifying but also unnecessary, given that his disqualification from holding the office of Attorney-General is obvious.
Clarke has advised the prime minister that the appointment cannot be lawfully made.
He said the law society will pursue this matter in court if forced to do so, but it hopes that will not be necessary.
