Head of Fiji police says he'll act against any cover up

Transcript

Fiji's Police Commissioner says if he finds police personnel deliberately closed an investigation involving allegations against security personnel, he will take steps against them.

In July Ben Groenewald reopened the probe into a video released last year showing the torture and beating of two prison escapees by security personnel.

He's also ordered an investigation in relation to a man who claims he was beaten when arrested by police two months ago, after sending angry texts to the prime minister.

The Director of Public Prosecutions found there is insufficient evidence to take further action but Mr Groenewald told Bridget Tunnicliffe his arrest didn't comply with the Criminal Procedures Decree.

BEN GROENEWALD:  The offence listed against Mr Bilitaki was of a minor offense and it was not sufficient evidence to detain him.  Now unfortunately whilst detained an administrative error by the police in charge of the police station, and that is now the subject of an internal investigation that will lead to departmental steps against those people involved. You can not keep your hand on all the people who arrested him used their discretion and detained him and when I was informed on that, I immediately investigated and released him.

BRIDGET TUNNICLIFFE:  He says he was also badly assaulted while he was in detention and he ended up in hospital.  What about that aspect.

BG:  That aspect was also thoroughly investigated by another independent investigator.  I interviewed Mr Bilitaki on the Wednesday his arrest or release and he confirmed to me that he was never assaulted. The DPP made a decision on medical grounds by the medical doctor who looked after him when he was admitted to hospital, and he also indicated that there were no signs of any assault, so that case has also been withdrawn by the DPP.

BT:  Why was he in hospital though.

BG:  He had an appendix operation and he has a heart problem, he was taken into hospital because he feel sick during detention and he was treated by the doctor for hypertension.

BT:  So when you saw him you didn't see any bruising or signs of physical assault.

BG:  I saw nothing, it was in the presence of his two daughters, I asked him explicitly were you at any stage assaulted by any people who arrested you and he said, no. Now later on, after he was discharged from the hospital he complained to the media and I immediately took action, I opened a criminal case of assault as was alleged by him, we took a statement from him which alleged he was assaulted, it was thoroughly investigated and it has been ended up as no evidence of any assault.

BT:  While I am talking to you I understand the investigation to the video that was released on line about 18 months ago showing a recaptured prisoner brutally assaulted, I understand that investigation is still going on.

BG:  Yes, when I became aware of the case and found out that case was closed, I reopened the case and the case is under investigation.

BT:  What is the reason for the delay.

BG:  There's no delay since I reopened the case, as I indicated the case initially closed by the investigating officer and when I read through the case I was of the opinion there are enough prima facie evidence and I reopened the case and since I reopened the case I'm keeping contact with investigating officer and hopefully he will submit the case docket back to the DPP in due cause.

BT:  Given you have video evidence, this should be a straight forward case, shouldn't it.

BG:  By all means madam, I agree.  I'm of the opinion the case was not dealt with properly and it was filed improperly and that was the reason I reopened it and I will be waiting for the submission of the docket to myself, and I will submit to the DPP for his decision.

BT:  Do you think police were protecting their own.  Was there a cover up?

BG:  Well, I can not answer the question because I came here in May and I was only informed about the case in July, that was my first sight of the case and when I went through the docket I saw that it was improperly closed down and I immediately reopened it.

BT:  Why on earth would a case so high profile as that be closed down.  What could be the possible reason for that.

BG:  That will also be a part of our internal investigation.  I think there were confusion in terms of the complaints.

BT:  Confusion or deliberate cover-up.

BG:  Well, you can call it whatever you want, if you feel it was deliberate cover-up we can classify that as deliberate cover-up but as I indicated I opened it and it will be subject to proper investigation.  It's long overdue, I gave the people a timeline and I will see that they keep to the timeline.

BT:  What is the timeline.

BG:  The timeline will be the end of the month.

BT:  If you found during your investigations that there was a deliberate attempt by police to protect their own people and put this case under the rugs, sort of thing, are you going to do something about that.

BG:  Madam, the police act is very clear that I can take steps in terms of departmental offences and these people, well a part from the fact that they are or not involved in the crime and they deliberately closed up the file, I will take departmental steps and they will appear before a tribunal and they will be charged, and at the end I will make a decision on what will happen to those people.