High Court Judge Justice Thomas Hickie will decide next month what penalty to impose on Fiji Times Publisher Rex Gardiner and Editor Netani Rika who have admitted to the charge of contempt of court.

After the high court ruling in the Qarase/Bainimarama case, the Fiji Times had published an opinion in the “Letters To The Editor” where it was alleged by the author that the three presiding Judges in the case were biased and corrupt.

Lawyer representing the Fiji Times, Gardiner and Rika, Richard Naidu told High Court Judge Justice Thomas Hickie that the recommendation by the state lawyers to impose prison sentences across the board for those involved and the compensation sum set at $1 million is totally inappropriate and unproportionate as they do not deny being in contempt but stressed that it is on the lower scale.

Naidu said they do not dispute the fact that the Attorney General's Office has the right to bring such proceedings against his clients, however he said the matter could have been dealt with in other ways if they were approached directly to sort out the matter.

He stressed that it was not the editor or journalist who had written the scandalous item but it was by a third party and when the newspaper company realized their mistake, immediate remedial steps were taken and an apology was printed.

Naidu said there is no evidence to suggest that his clients had an agenda against the Judiciary as it was a one off mistake and a clear oversight on the part of the editorial team and the systems to check for such breaches had broken down.

The lawyer stressed that there was also some resource constraints which were identified prior to the contempt and steps have since been taken to appoint an Associate Editor to ensure such a mistake is not repeated.

Referring to Gardiner's affidavit, Naidu stated that Gardiner, though not involved in the day to day operations of the Fiji Times newsroom accepts full responsibility for the contempt but stressed that any conviction could affect his work permit and the operations of the organization.

Solicitor General Christopher Pryde in response stated that the matter is very serious as Rika, with his 20 years experience in the media, had admitted looking through the letter before handing it to his sub editors for minor changes and then authorized its publication without alarm bells going off on the use of the words biased and corrupt knowing the sensitivity of the matter. He also said the policy for Letters to The Editor was not followed as the identity of the author of the letter in question, is still unknown.

Pryde said a prison term for Rika would be an appropriate penalty given the major oversight on his part and a sum of $1 million in indemnity costs would be a sufficient deterrent for other news agencies from making such errors. He said this is not just a robbery, drink driving or speeding case but much more serious than that.

Judge Hickie stressed that the contempt is a very serious matter and goes to the heart of the administration of Justice. The Judge said there must be a line drawn so that the media and the public at large can clearly define what is right and wrong in terms of attacks on the members of the Judiciary. He will make a ruling on notice in January.