A landmark case in Fiji today at the High Court in the capital Suva issued what is the country’s first environmental crime sentence.

Controversial Chinese resort development company Freesoul Limited was fined FJ$1 million for breaching two counts of Fiji’s Environmental Management Act.

The company is developing a resort on Malolo Island in the popular tourist hotspot, the Mamanuca Islands.

• READ MORE: Fiji PM apologises to NZ journalists detained over Malolo probe
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The company was issued a prohibition notice in June 2018 after neighbours and indigenous landowners shed light on extensive environmental damage it was causing on the coast at Malolo Island.

According to court documents, the company was issued with a prohibition notice by the Department of Environment after landowners and neighbours alerted authorities of extensive coral and mangrove damage.

The company had dug an extensive sea channel and removed local marine life to gain direct access to the resort development.

The DOE had authorised only land works because an Environmental Impact Assessment had not been done on marine works.

Freesoul denied responsibility
When charged for unauthorised development, Freesoul denied responsibility but the Magistrate Seini Puamau, who heard the initial case, was not satisfied, given DOE evidence produced in court showing Freesoul apologising for the damage.

The case was referred to High Court judge Justice Daniel Gounder who ordered Freesoul pay the DOE FJ$1 million for the rehabilitation of the marine environment damage.

Chinese resort developer Freesoul fined $650,000 for damaging Fijian mangroves and reef https://t.co/7cGoUadaoy

— ABC News (@abcnews) April 28, 2022

Justice Gounder said he was unable to issue a custodial sentence given the EMA provides for jail terms for persons not corporations.

“This case is about environment, criminal responsibility and punishment,” Justice Gounder said.

“Although the offending is not the most serious type, the offenders culpability is high.”

Justice Gounder sentenced Freesoul with the highest penalty possible under the EMA.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Fiji’s opposition has called for a full investigation by an impartial committee into allegations of collusion by government officials in the destruction of reefs, foreshore and land on Malolo Island.

Earlier this month, the Chinese-backed company Freesoul Real Estate Development was ordered to repair the damage which it had caused during months of unconsented work on the reef and on land it did not own.

Opposition leader Sitiveni Rabuka said no action had been taken by ministers or senior government officials despite direct repeated attempts throughout 2018 by landowners seeking assistance.

READ MORE: Newsroom investigates Malolo destruction

He said Fiji officials had been given drone footage and photographs of the ongoing destruction in breach of the environmental and planning approvals.

Rabuka said the rot and culture of fear in the civil service, the intimidated and cowed media and the country was so ingrained now, that it took foreign investigative journalists to break the story.

The three New Zealand Newsroom journalists reporting about Malolo were this month arrested but Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama ordered their release a day later and apologised to them personally for their ordeal.

Rabuka said the apology was not enough to cover the fact that media in Fiji were now so scared of him and those close to him, that they dared not cover the story.

He said there had to be a probe into the action, inaction or negligence of any ministers, officials, former civil servants or police officers who facilitated the environmental destruction, the flouting of environmental and planning laws, failed to act to prevent it or halt it, or who participated in the illegal detention of the journalists covering the issue.

He also said the prime minister had to come clean on how the extensive environmental destruction would be reversed, if at all possible.

This article is republished under the Pacific Media Centre’s content partnership with Radio New Zealand.

• Newsroom multimedia coverage of the Malolo destruction
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