Justice David Ashton-Lewis [left] and Wylie Clarke

The Fiji Law Society is calling on Justice David Ashton-Lewis to either resign from the Supreme Court of Fiji or that he faces disciplinary proceedings under Section 112 of the Constitution of Fiji 2013.

Section 112 of the Fiji Constitution of 2013, concerning the removal of judicial officers for cause, outlines the process for removing judges and other judicial personnel from their positions.

It ensures a procedure that is both thorough and impartial, ensuring that only serious misconduct or incapacitation can lead to removal.

In a statement the Society President Wylie Clarke says that Fiji has made significant progress since 2022 to ensure judicial independence and stronger and more robust courts.

Therefore he says that it cannot be seen to compromise on standards of judicial conduct and independence, particularly at the level of its highest court.

The Fiji Law Society has, in the past, been prepared to challenge and take to court questions of the suitability and qualifications of judicial officers. If necessary, it will do so again.

Clarke says that Justice Ashton-Lewis seems to demonstrate a lack of knowledge of essential facts, including Fiji’s current membership of the Commonwealth.

He says that Ashton-Lewis has suggested that he was a “constitutional judge” on the High Court in the 1990s when there was no such position.

He adds that none of these statements or actions is appropriate for a Judge of the Supreme Court of Fiji and Judges at every level of Fiji’s court system are expected to be politically independent.

They are expected to exercise careful discretion to comment on the matters in which they are involved either in the most neutral and sensitive terms, or (in most cases) not at all.

According to the statement Justice Ashton-Lewis’s intemperate comments, including his many references to his engagement with the Prime Minister, suggest he does not understand his role either as a Supreme Court judge or a Commissioner.

Clarke says that the interview he gave to a Queensland radio station on 29 May, in which he discussed a number of confidential COI matters, has now compromised both the COI and his judicial office.

Justice Ashton-Lewis, who is bound by section 4 of the Commissions of Inquiry Act 1946 to swear an oath to preserve the confidentiality of the COI, its proceedings and his opinions, seems to have completely disregarded his legal obligations.

He says that Justice Ashton-Lewis has mischaracterized the facts in broad and prejudicial statements, claiming, for example, that Barbara Malimali had been “universally seen as corrupt” at the time of her appointment .

Barbara Malimali

He believes there is no evidence for such a strong statement.

He says that by his own admission, Justice Ashton-Lewis appears to be actively advising the Prime Minister on implementation of the COI report, including on how to “cut the ground” from under those he sees as the Prime Minister’s opponents.

Clarke suggests that he is doing the Prime Minister’s bidding by revealing to him “the crocodiles in the pond” yet it says that the Prime Minister himself was a witness in the COI and potentially the subject of findings (positive or negative).

The FLS President says Justice Ashton-Lewis appears to express his direct political support for the Prime Minister, including defending him from attack from a “wannabe Prime Minister” and declaring that the Prime Minister is committed to the rule of his law, in contrast to his “enemies.”

Stream the best of Fiji on VITI+. Anytime. Anywhere.