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By Samisoni Pareti
Winston Thompson, the besieged pro chancellor of the University of the South Pacific has sought the suspension of the USP vice chancellor and president, Professor Pal Ahluwalia.
Ambassador Thompson made the request in a confidential paper he submitted to the USP Council yesterday. The council is currently meeting at a hotel in Nadi, Fiji.
At this point, IB Online is yet to confirm whether the Council is deliberating on Thompson’s proposal. All that we were told was the Council meeting finished late yesterday evening because of Thompson’s presentation.
It is believed that his 17-page submission concludes with eight recommendations, and that they include a call for the immediate suspension of Professor Ahluwalia and for an investigation into his performance at the regional university.
Thompson accuses the Canadian academic of tarnishing the reputation of the USP and working to undermine its operations.
The confidential paper confirms what the retired Fijian diplomat had told Islands Business magazine in May; that it was his personal wish that Professor Ahluwalia be dismissed.
It follows the leaking of a confidential report authored by Ahluwalia, which makes allegations of gross abuse and mismanagement against high level managers at the university.
The uproar triggered by the Ahluwalia report forced the USP Council to commission an independent investigation into the allegations when they met in May in Vanuatu .
That investigation is complete, but reports reaching IB Online say the BDO Auckland report was—at least initially—not tabled when the Council meeting began in Nadi yesterday.
The Council secretariat instead opted to circulate hardcopy versions of a report compiled by the USP Council’s Audit & Risk Compliance committee on the BDO report.
The Compliance committee is headed by Mahmood Khan of Fiji, who is a retired partner of a BDO franchise in New Zealand.
The Council meeting in Nadi is expected to conclude later today.
