Rakuita Vakalalabure

Ratu Rakuita Saurara Vakalalabure (born 1962) is a Fijian lawyer and former politician. He was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1999 and following the elections after the 2000 political uphevals was a candidate of the Conservative Alliance (CAMV). He was re-elected to the House of Representatives, winning the Cakaudrove West Fijian Communal Constituency in the parliamentary election of 2001, following in the footsteps of his father, Ratu Tevita Vakalalabure, who claimed to hold the chiefly title of Vunivalu (Paramount Chief) of Natewa, in Cakaudrove Province, and who served in both houses of Parliament from the 1970s to the 1990s. He was subsequently appointed Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, but on 5 August 2004, he was sentenced to six years' imprisonment for his role in the Fiji coup of 2000, however the sentence was successfully reduced on appeal.

Vakalalabure studied at the University of the South Pacific for a science degree in 1981 but left in 1983 to join the military and completed six tours of duty with the Fijian Military in South Lebanon reaching the rank of Captain in the regular force. He went on to complete a law degree at Bond University in Queensland and post`graduate diploma in legal practice from A.N.U Canberra, Australia. Later received his master's degree in Law [Commercial and corporate law specializing in international trade and finance] from the University of London, England. After returning to Fiji, he served as a state prosecutor for four years under the then-Director of Public Prosecutions, Nazhat Shameem and three years as Legal advisor and Board Secretary for the Civil Aviation Authority of Fiji. In an ironic twist, he was later to be convicted and sentenced for coup-related offences by Shameem, by then a judge.

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