SOLOMON Islands Opposition leader Manasseh Sogavare has urged Attorney General Gabriel Suri to stand as investigations begin into questionable bauxite shipments.
Suri ordered Director of Mines, Christa Tatapu, to provide all documents relating to 33 shipments from West Rennell mining operations carried out by Bintan Mining SI Ltd.
He has rejected Sogavare’s call.
Bintan Mining was contracted by mining lease-holder Asia Pacific Investment Development (APID). Suri was counsel to APID which failed to pay $SBD8.6million to the Solomons government, provincial authorities, and landowners between 2017 and 2019.
Sogavare said Suri should recuse himself from all APID-related matters, whether in court proceedings, legal advice, Cabinet processes, official correspondence, or any investigative or enforcement decisions.
“All APID-related work should be delegated to law officers or independent counsel who are free from any actual or apparent conflict of interest,” the Opposition leader said.
He called on Prime Minister Matthew Wale to publicly state what safeguards, screening arrangements, or recusal measures had been put in place since Suri’s appointment.
“Any ongoing APID-related investigation should continue under arrangements that protect its independence and safeguard the integrity of existing court proceedings,” Sogavare said.
“Solomon Islands cannot afford a culture where conflicts of interest are ignored until public confidence is broken. Public office carries a duty to avoid even the appearance that prior loyalties might influence present decisions.”
Sogavare said the issue has now become a serious test of integrity in public office, the independence of legal decision-making, and public confidence in the administration of justice.
Suri told In-Depth Solomons he was not involved in the operational aspects of APID’s mining activities or the shipment of bauxite from West Rennell when he acted as the company’s lawyer.
He said he represented APID in defending its mining lease when it was challenged by landowners and later cancelled by former Mines Minister Bradley Tovosia.
