Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has confirmed that the Commission of Inquiry (COI) into Barbra Malimali’s report, may be made public – but only after the redaction of various matters in the report.

Speaking after a ‘closed-door’ briefing, the Prime Minister stated that while he cannot reveal the contents of the report due to confidentiality – there is a recommendation within the report itself, that it be forwarded to the Fiji Police Force and the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC), for further action.

Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka confirms that the report is clear in its recommendation that it be passed on to the appropriate investigating authorities.

“The recommendation is that it can be made public, but it can only be made public after the redaction of the various matters in the report, particularly chapter seven”, Rabuka said.

He said, Chapter seven indicates that there were some people named, and they cannot be disclosed.

“According to the recommendation of that report, it is up to the investigating arm of government, and if they were not redacted it could compromise the investigation, and jeopardise the positions of those names”, Rabuka said.

This morning, the Prime Minister met with his three Deputy Prime Ministers, including the Commissioner of Police Rusiate Tudravu, and the Commander of the Military Force Major General Ro Jone Kalouniwai.

“He was concerned that there could be interference in the report and the answer to that is I gave him the full report and release the redacted part of the report”, Rabuka said.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police confirms receiving the Commission of Inquiry report from the Prime Minister today.

Tudravu says, a dedicated team from the Criminal Investigations Department has been tasked to analyse the report and make recommendations on the next course of action with regards to investigations as per the findings of the report.

The report did implicate some big names, which Rabuka says, cannot be disclosed.

The nature of the findings and the identities of those mentioned in the report remain undisclosed, with the Prime Minister emphasizing that it is now up to the investigating arms of government to proceed in line with the report’s recommendations.