30 Apr 2007

Members of Fiji's Great Council of Chiefs plan legal action

2:02 pm on 30 April 2007

Sacked members of Fiji's suspended Great Council of Chiefs are planning legal action against the interim administration.

Its former chairman, Ratu Ovini Bokini, says the chiefs have exhausted all avenues to convince the interim government to review its decision and have been left with no option but to seek redress in court.

Ratu Ovini says they had written to the interim minister for Fijian affairs, Ratu Epeli Ganilau, to hear the views of the chiefs but they have not received a response.

Ratu Ovini says the chiefs have their own lawyers but have to decide whether they will take class action by engaging a single lawyer.

The interim prime minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, suspended the Great Council of Chiefs earlier this month after it refused to endorse President Ratu Josefa Iloilo's nomination to fill the vice presidency.

Meanwhile, the interim minister for Fijian affairs, Ratu Epeli Ganilau, says he is leading the team which will review the Great Council of Chiefs, not a senior military officer as reported earlier. .

Ratu Epeli says the review has begun and he expects to have a report ready soon.