Described as a lonely, inadequate megalomaniac, Fiji’s Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has always been deeply unpopular despite the considerable power he yields.

     Central to the dislike among indigenous and mostly Christian Fijians is that Sayed-Khaiyum is Indian Muslim.

     With his brother, Riyaz, who now heads state owned Fiji Broadcasting, they where close to Voreqe Bainimarama through the events leading up to the coup of 2006.

     So was Colonel Tevita Uluilakeba Mara who, with other soldiers, made up the military council that backed Bainimarama.

     A lawyer for a Colonial Insurance, it was Sayed-Khaiyum who put a legal gloss on things. 

     But Col. Mara, now in exile in Tonga, revealed what was well known; the military did not like Sayed-Khaiyum. 

     “For inexplicable reasons, Commodore Bainimarama, weakened by ill health, morally and intellectually bankrupt, is no more than (Sayed-Khaiyum's) hand puppet,” Mara said adding he suffered from “megalomania … inspired entirely by the self importance of a lonely and inadequate man.”

     A reflection of Sayed-Khaiyum’s power was his known government salary: F$336,000 (NZ$240,000). Bainimarama pays himself F$267,000 (NZ$191,000).

     Sayed-Khaiyum defends the higher salary saying he is minister more things, including justice, anti-corruption, tourism, trade and being the attorney-general.

     A distinctive looking man, he wears tailored suits and heavy gold jewellery.

     Sayed-Khaiyum did his law degree at the University of Wollongong in Australia and his masters at the University of Hong Kong, writing a thesis which advocated the removal of the right of indigenous Fijians to own land exclusively.

     In Fiji he was, for a short time, in the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions but left under a performance cloud. He went into private practice with a law firm in Australia briefly before returning to Suva to work for Colonial.

     His aunt, Nur Bano Ali of accountancy firm BDO Ali, lives in New Zealand. It handles the payroll for the government, including her newphew’s pay (read the full story here).

Bainimarama’s 2006 coup was regarded in Fiji as a counter-coup; all previous coups had been indigenous Fijian led, while the 2006 was to restore Indo-Fijian power.

          In March Sayed-Khaiyum married Fijian Ela Gavoka, daughter of former Fiji Rugby Union chairman Viliame Gavoka.

     Bainimarama blessed the wedding, saying he was “very very happy” to see Sayed-Khaiyum at last married

16 May 2011

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