In his interview with Grubsheet in Suva, the Fijian leader said the allegations were "not true". In the case of 2000, Lal and Hunter report that Bainimarama demanded that the military should be given the authority to rule Fiji for 50 years but this was opposed by the then president, Ratu Josefa Iloilo.

Denying the account, Commodore Bainimarama said he was already in control of Fiji in 2000. "For their information, I was in charge of the nation in 2000, so I took over in 2000. I gave the government to (Laisenia) Qarase". The Prime Minister said it was historical fact that he had handed the reins of power to Laisenia Qarase hoping that he would govern for all Fijians and not just the indigenous majority. "Everyone knows the story of 2000 when I came in, so why they change this and (have) people believing it, I don't know".

Source:

• GrubSheet
• Image: FijiVillage.com

At the time it was reported that a request had been made through Interpol and rejected by the New Zealand Government.

A recent article in the New Zealand Herald gives what is claimed to be a detailed background to this incident It was written by former Fiji Sun editor-in-chief Russell Hunter, who was deported from Fiji in 2008 - and former journalist, and now an Oxford academic, Victor Lal,

However Professor Crosbie Walsh, a retired founding director of development studies at the University of the South Pacific, has written a refutation of the Herald article.

Winston Peters, who was New Zealand Foreign Minster at the time also rejects the suggestion New Zealand was planning to arrest Bainimarama

Source

• The New Zealand Herald
• Pacific Scoop
• FijiVillage
• Image: The Fiji Times