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Fiji Land Minister Sudhakar refuses to resign following sexual misconduct allegations

A high ranking minister in the FijiFirst government has been asked to resign by his own party, over allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct.


Lands Minister Ashneel Sudhakar was asked Thursday by the party General Secretary to resign amid allegations that are believed to have emanated from text messages that were sent by the Minister to a female member of the law fraternity.

Apart from this female, there are a few others, who have raised the issue of such behavior by the MP.

FijiFirst General Secretary Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said they will not be holding back against such allegation.

“We have asked him to resign given the enormity of the allegations and the seriousness of the allegations because we believe that it would’ve been in the best interest both of him personally and also the party that he resigns.”

Sayed-Khaiyum said they will now constitute further action under the FijiFirst constitution since the MP has refused to adhere.

“We have to go through a particular set of processes which we are now going to initiate in the next couple of days where a committee will look at the allegations and deliberate and hear from all sides and then, of course, make a decision.”

FijiFirst also confirming the complaint was received from the woman.

“We’ve seen a pattern of behavior. We, in fact, asked the Minister to tender in his resignation which the Minister refused to do so. Therefore, we will have to go through the processes set out under the FijiFirst constitution with respect to discipline problems or expelling people.”

Opposition SODELPA MP, Lynda Tabuya, while commending the woman for coming forward, says severe action needs to be taken.

“It would be up to the Government, I believe that he should be suspended. That particular minister should be suspended pending an investigation.”

In the past, Sudhakar was alleged to have verbally upset a female staff member of Parliament during a retreat for MPs at a resort along the Coral Coast.

The female staff was summoned to appear before the committee investigating the Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and Pio Tikoduadua case.

This was revealed in the verbatim report of the Parliamentary Privileges Committee dated 05 September, 2019, which was tabled in Parliament on 02 September 2019.

SOURCE: FBC NEWS/PACNEWS

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