Fiji police have carried out a midnight raid at the home of the vice-chancellor of the prestigious University of the South Pacific and summarily deported him on orders of the prime minister, in a move described by students as a “coup” and likened by staff to “gestapo tactics”.
Up to 15 immigration, police and military officials forced their way into Pal Ahluwalia’s home in Suva on Wednesday night, revoked his work permit and escorted the vice-chancellor and his wife, Sandra Price, to Nadi international airport. He was then forced on to a flight under military guard to Australia on Thursday.
Ahluwalia’s previous exposure of allegations of corruption and financial mismanagement under previous university administrations has angered the Fijian government.
“This is a classic case of beating the whistleblower up,” Ahluwalia told the ABC.
For decades, the University of the South Pacific (USP) has been a shining light in the region, where the best and brightest from all across the islands studied. Collectively owned by 12 Pacific states – with campuses in all – it has produced generations of regional leaders, and been the crucible of pan-Pacific political movements on independence and democratisation.
Ahluwalia, a Kenyan-born Canadian, was appointed to USP in 2019 with a mandate to modernise and reform the institution, and wrote a report detailing allegations of widespread financial mismanagement, abuse of entitlements, and millions of dollars improperly spent under previous administrations, which earned him the ire of the government in Fiji, where the university’s main campus sits.
Price said on Wednesday night, police and immigration officials threatened to break down doors, surrounding the house from the front and rear.
“I was instructed to get dressed and they confiscated all electronic devices including our phones, iPads, laptops, watches and passports. I was not left alone to change or even use the washroom. Where were my moral and human rights? There were at least 15 people in our house after curfew.”
The couple was on a flight to Brisbane less than 12 hours later, with a letter stating they had been declared “prohibited immigrants” by Fiji’s minister for immigration, the prime minister Frank Bainimarama, who ordered the couple’s deportation with immediate effect.
Pictures posted on social media showed the couple boarding a flight at around 11am under police guard.
#USP Vice Chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia and his wife Sandra Price are escorted onto a flight to Australia as the Fiji government deports them this morning #Fiji pic.twitter.com/MPknu3mptF
— Islands Business (@IBIupdate) February 3, 2021
Ahluwalia’s conduct, his deportation notice said, had been deemed “prejudicial to peace, defence, public safety, public order, public morality, public health, security, or good government of the Fiji islands”. The Fiji government said the couple was deported for unspecified “repeated breaches” of the immigration act and their visa conditions.
There was a police presence at USP’s Laucala campus in Suva shortly after news of the deportation broke, seen widely as an intimidation tactic to pre-empt student and staff protests.
The USP staff association and unions led the chorus of criticism that followed the move, accusing the Fiji government of using “gestapo tactics” and “un-Pasifika behaviour” to remove the vice-chancellor, in a “violation of human rights and due process”.
Former USP economics professor Biman Prasad, now the leader of Fiji’s oldest political party, the National Federation party, said the government was behaving like “bullies and thugs” and that Bainimarama should “immediately rescind the deportation order”.
A staff member told the Guardian, on condition of anonymity: “This is nothing short of a coup by the government of Fiji on the USP and its VC. This is the government forcefully imposing its will on USP staff and students who overwhelmingly support this VC.”
Ahluwalia’s 2019 report on the USP alleged widespread financial mismanagement within the university, abuse of entitlements, unearned promotions and millions of dollars improperly spent under former administrations seen as closely allied, politically, to the Bainimarama government.
The allegations of impropriety have rejected by former university officials who deny any wrongdoing.
Ahluwalia’s report was leaked publicly, triggering intense scrutiny of the university and an independent investigation by New Zealand-based accounting firm, BDO.
The 114-page BDO report, which was also leaked, substantiated some of the allegations and said further investigation was required along with “stronger oversight” from the university council.