Law Society sounds alarm over Fiji judiciary move

The Fiji regime's decision to take over issuing practising certificates for lawyers in Fiji is "very disturbing" and could undermine the rule of law there, says the New Zealand Law Society.

The move was a very serious attack on the independence of the legal profession in Fiji, it said, as the Fiji government on Friday decreed that the Chief Registrar of the Court, a government employee, would take over issuing practising certificates from the Fiji Law Society.

All existing certificates will expire by the end of June and lawyers will have to seek renewal from the registrar before then.

Fiji government authorities raided the Fiji Law Society's offices and removed files on Saturday night.

Society president Dorsami Naidu told Radio New Zealand the new chief registrar, Ana Rokomokoti, and men in plain clothes demanded entry to the society's Suva offices.

They took confidential files relating to complaints against law society members, and the chief registrar told staff a decree had been issued effectively deregulating the society.

The decree removed independence for lawyers, Mr Naidu said.

The move follows the military regime's move to reappoint judges last Friday, six weeks after firing them all.

Those reinstated included two High Court justices who previously ruled that the military's 2006 coup was legal.

New Zealand Law Society president John Marshall QC said an independent legal profession was a vital element of the rule of law.

"The legal profession represents individuals in claims against the State and defends them in criminal cases brought by the State.

"Lawyers must be independent of State interference to be able to represent clients freely and fearlessly," he said.

In New Zealand, the Law Society issues practising certificates to lawyers and the Fiji Law Society had done the same for the last 12 years, Mr Marshall said.

The New Zealand Law Society would watch the Fiji situation very closely and would be extremely concerned if there was any suggestion that lawyers who opposed the regime, or who act for clients who bring cases against it, were being refused practising certificates, he said.

It was also concerning wide ranging changes regulation of Fiji's legal profession had been made without consultation but simply the issuing of the decree.

Auckland queen's counsel Peter Williams said the raid showed the regime wanted complete control, which was "not unusual for dictatorships".

Mr Williams said the government "did not want the independence of a law".

"They don't want their activities to be reviewed, or to be in any way questioned," he said.

Fiji's interim attorney general Aiyaz Sayed-Khayum said reforms to the society would improve transparency.

Law societies in Fiji, Australia and New Zealand have urged lawyers in the three countries not to take up judicial postings to serve the regime.

Australian and New Zealand citizens often serve as judges in Fiji, which lacks enough homegrown senior lawyers.

- NZPA