A covert audio recording played in the High Court yesterday has brought new and potentially damaging evidence to the centre of legal challenges over the leadership of Fiji’s anti-corruption watchdog. The recording, from a 2025 interview with Mai TV reporter Lavenia Lativerata, captured Acting Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC) Commissioner Lavi Rokoika dismissing the authority of the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) and using derogatory language to describe its members.
Counsel for the applicants in two high-profile applications for a permanent stay of FICAC prosecutions submitted the audio as evidence during the hearing. The applications, filed by former Deputy Prime Ministers Manoa Kamikamica and Professor Biman Prasad, argue that prosecutions brought under Ms Rokoika’s leadership are legally infirm because her appointment is unlawful. The recording, conducted largely in iTaukei, was played in court yesterday and has become the latest development in the ongoing dispute over the commission’s leadership and the validity of its actions.
In the excerpts played to the court, Ms Rokoika is heard saying she does not recognise the JSC because, she claimed, “The President appointed me.” She also accused the JSC of inaction and asserted that the Prime Minister had intervened because the JSC “wasn’t acting.” Most striking were her remarks referring to JSC members as “a bunch of grog swipers” who “don’t do anything good,” language the applicants’ legal teams say is relevant to questions of institutional oversight and impartiality.
The recording also contains a comment in which Ms Rokoika acknowledges Chief Justice Salesi Temo as the “head boy” of lawyers but insists she is not answerable to the JSC. Those remarks are now part of the evidence the former ministers’ lawyers are relying on to contend that the chain of appointment and supervision of the acting commissioner falls outside established legal norms — a contention that, if accepted by the court, could affect the status of ongoing and concluded FICAC proceedings.
Neither Ms Rokoika nor Mai TV responded in court to questions about the provenance or context of the interview during the hearing. Court documents indicate the recording was produced and tendered by the applicants as part of a broader challenge seeking permanent stays of criminal prosecutions instituted by FICAC against Mr Kamikamica and Professor Prasad. The hearing continues before the High Court, where judges will consider whether the evidence affects the jurisdiction and legitimacy of the anti-corruption commission under current leadership.
The emergence of the audio amplifies scrutiny over the circumstances of Ms Rokoika’s appointment and over FICAC’s independence at a sensitive moment in a string of high-profile cases. Legal observers say the court will need to weigh not only procedural questions about appointment powers but also whether comments made publicly or in recorded interviews bear on institutional impartiality. The outcome of the applications could determine whether prosecutions launched under Ms Rokoika’s direction proceed or are stayed pending resolution of the wider constitutional and administrative issues raised.
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