MPs call for Fiji coup inquiry

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MPs CALL FOR FIJI COUP INQUIRY

SUVA (Pasifik Nius): A parliamentarian has renewed calls for a public inquiry into the illegal takeover of Parliament on May 19 last year, the Fiji Times reports.

United General Party MP Mick Beddoes said the country could not move forward until the many unanswered questions were answered.

"Lieutenant-Colonel Viliame Seruvakula in a recent magazine interview speaks of cash offers of $260,000 payouts for himself and $50,000 for each soldier," he said.

"But we do not hear anything about recalling him to testify or assist with the investigations. Neither does there seem to be any urgency to interview him or verify his claims."

Beddoes asked why the real culprits were still at large.

"Who is protecting them and why? What do we tell the families of those who have lost their lives?

"That perhaps the seven plotters are above the law?"

Parliamentarian Sanjeet Maharaj said leaders should first learn to reconcile before preaching the message in villages and settlements.

Parliamentarian Pio Wong urged the Government to devise a system that would ensure that the events of May 19 were never repeated in future.

"I am urging the Government to call a national inquiry or similar commission to establish the root causes of last year's national security breach," said Wong, a former senior army officer.

Meanwhile, the Sun reports that some political parties responded to Labour MP Poseci Bune's call for the "desecrated" Parliament House to be relocated by saying this was not practical and too expensive.

Bune, former Agricultural Minister in the deposed People's Coalition Government, had proposed that a new parliamentary building be built at Pacific Harbour resort near Suva and the current complex to be turned over to the Fiji Museum.

He said confidence in parliamentary democracy, respect, dignity and sacredness had been lost because of the desecration of the complex during the May 19 takeover.

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