News

Serious breach led to resignation: Acting SG

September 12, 2019 7:00 am

The Acting Secretary-General to Parliament Viniana Namosimalua

The Acting Secretary-General to Parliament Viniana Namosimalua is refuting allegations that a staff member was forced to resign over leaked videos.

The video showed the August 9th altercation between Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and the now-suspended Opposition MP Pio Tikoduadua.

Namosimalua – speaking exclusively to FBC News – said there was a serious breach of conduct by the former Parliamentary staff who admitted sharing the video.

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“He had taken it to his village but could not have shared, he said that he could not share because he did not have a laptop so I asked him one final time whether he was telling me the truth and he then admitted he did share it, he did share it to others.”

She says there were clear instructions after the events of August 9th and they were not followed.

“The video was taken on Parliament’s official camera during official hours and therefore the property of parliament. It was shared without any authorization and more importantly, there were standing instructions on how the footage was to be dealt with, that is it would be kept with me, the only copy with me and then provided to the Police when they came to Parliament to investigate.”

Meanwhile, the acting SG clarified the person who actually shot the video was not a staff.

“He has not lost his job, he still has a contract with the UNDP and he’s still currently employed there by the organisation. He, in fact, was on attachment with us, with the Fiji Parliament and he was assisting us with our media unit.”

It’s unclear how many copies of the video were made before it was first released on social media.