10 Oct 2011

Fiji police probe breach of conduct at Air Pacific

4:48 am on 10 October 2011

Fiji police have confirmed that they are investigating an Air Pacific employee for allegedly breaching the company's code of conduct.

However, a senior police officer has told local media he cannot divulge any information about the nature of the alleged breach.

Unconfirmed reports say a pilot, who is an Australian national, is in police custody.

This comes just days after documents were leaked which show Air Pacific hired a law firm in New York to draw up an anti-union decree that the interim regime implemented.

Documents also show that Air Pacific was billed 33,000 US dollars by a British consultancy, Marshall-James, for helping deal with a response to the ILO which found the decree violates conventions Fiji has signed.

Neither Air Pacific nor the interim government has commented on the contracts.

Qantas, which owns 46 percent of Air Pacific, has also evaded questions from both Canberra and Australian unions on its role in procuring the decree in Fiji.