Charters Charged for Aiding and Abetting — FICAC

The Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption confirms that Mr Charlie Cobham Charters appeared before the Suva Magistrates’ Court today charged with two counts of aiding and abetting.

According to FICAC, the charges are brought under section 45 of the Crimes Act 2009 read together with section 13G(1) of the FICAC Act 2007.

FICAC alleges that between 2 November 2025 and 14 December 2025, Charters intentionally aided and abetted a person who was at the time an officer of the Commission to commit an offence by publishing official information relating to the Commission’s functions without written permission of the Commissioner. The information was allegedly posted on his Facebook account “Charlie Charters”.

A second count alleges that on 2 February 2026, Charters again aided and abetted a Commission officer to unlawfully publish official information on the same Facebook account.

Charters appeared before Resident Magistrate Shageeth Somaratne.

FICAC State Counsel Rusiate Doidoi informed the court that first phase disclosures had been served to the accused. The defence team, which included Seforan Faritaki, Wylie Clarke, Laurel Vaurasi, Richard Naidu, Gavin O’Driscoll and Subhash Parshotam, requested seven days for FICAC to provide second phase disclosures.

FICAC said Charters was granted non-cash bail of $2,000 with strict conditions, including not interfering with state witnesses, surrendering his travel documents, and being placed under a stop departure order. The defence objected to the bail conditions, however the court issued standard conditions and advised that any concerns could be addressed through a bail variation application.

The matter has been adjourned to 2 March 2026 for mention to confirm second phase disclosures.

FICAC stated that section 13G of the FICAC Act makes it an offence for an officer or former officer of the Commission to disclose official information without written authorisation, while section 45 of the Crimes Act provides that a person who aids and abets an offence is treated as having committed that offence.

The Commission said it had not previously issued any statement on the matter as investigations were ongoing, adding that it would have been inappropriate to comment publicly while inquiries continued.

FICAC said the case is now before the court and will proceed according to due process, and confirmed it will not make further comments while proceedings are ongoing.