Bribery Charge

Inquiry In Fiji

Bribery Charge Against Police

IHE setting up of a public com- Imis s i o n of inquiry into egations of bribery in the Fiji lice Force was announced at Suva ■October 14 and sittings began in va on November 2.

Messrs. A. M. Duncan, CMG, d D. M. N. McFarlane have been pointed commissioners, with Mr. mean as chairman.

Hr. Duncan, formerly Chief Com pßioner of Police in Victoria, s a member of the com ssion set up earlier this year Inquire into the methods of in tigation of crime by the Fiji ice.

Ir. McFarlane is a well-known m lawyer and a former Mayor Suva.

Tie Commission will sit in itoka as v/ell as Suva, targes against the Police De tment, especially with regard to alleged bribing of traffic officers, e made by Mr. W. G. Johnson, ominated member of the Legis ts Council, when speaking on [Council’s adjournment motion September 8. [r. Johnson said: “I have had le before me a sufficient number ndividuals who have stated that 1 themselves have given sums of ley to police officers for the pur \ of gaining certain advantages, se people have made it clear I some members of the police e, particularly in the Traffic De ment, have raised improper iers and have then let it be sometimes directly and etimes through intermediaries, by cash payments to support ications the chances of the lications —to put it mildly—are meed.” r. Johnson alleged that driving ices had been issued without l and, in some cases, to minors, enger vehicles, he said, had been ved to undertake journeys over (above those on scheduled ser- I “for the payment of sums like -3 and £2 for each journey.” ■ter in his speech, Mr. Johnson i “All that I have been told and i stated has been said by people have come voluntarily before n, Indian and European mem of this Council within the last [lays. We members have pledged Jives not to disclose the names lese informants.” lEN asking the Government to up a commission or com- ■ mttee of inquiry, Mr. Johnson I cannot resume my seat >ut castigating the police force whole. It is apparent to me « includes unprincipled officers

and some who could not see and did not know what was going on under their noses. . .

“Magistrates are frequently dis posed to blame a person offering a bribe more than an officer receiv ing one. In some cases this may be justifiable, but where an atmos phere is created amongst the public that, unless a bribe or some con sideration is offered, the applicant is wasting his time, then the blame must rest much more heavily on the receiver than on the person who offers the bribe.” t With the help of the World Health Organisation, a yaws campaign and leprosy survey will be undertaken m the BSIP in 1956.