Anthony Gates

Anthony Harold Cumberland Thomas Gates is Acting Chief Justice of Fiji.

Early life

Gates was born in the United Kingdom and is a graduate of Cambridge University, and holds Australian citizenship. He had served as a volunteer teacher as a VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) in Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka; where he taught English at Royal College Colombo. Later he practised at the Bar in London, before taking an appointment at the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Fiji in 1977. He became the Deputy DPP in 1981 and a Magistrate in 1985. He was dismissed as a Magistrate in 1987 when he refused to take a fresh oath of allegiance to coup leader Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka, the self made Head of State. He left Fiji to work for the Commonwealth DPP’s Office in Brisbane, Australia. He returned to Fiji in 1993 to take over the practice of a former Leader of the Opposition. He was appointed to the High Court of Fiji in November 1999.

Recent career

Justice Gates is best known for his decision in Chandrika Prasad v. Att-Gen of Fiji [2000] 2 FLR 89; Prasad v. Republic of Fiji & Another [2001] 1 LRC 665; [2001] NZAR 21 in which he held that the Constitution of Fiji had not been abrogated by the military intervention in 2000, and that the Constitution continued to be the law of the land. His decision was upheld by Fiji’s Court of Appeal, in February 2001. However the decision which should have led to the restoration of the Parliament suspended by the coup of 2000, was not obeyed by the government of the day, the Government instead choosing to call for elections in 2001.

Justice Gates is also well-known for his decisions on enforcing freedoms from inhumane treatment for prison inmates (Noa Yasa & Anor v State HAM063A.05S [2005] paclii) and for the treason-related hearings of persons alleged to have been involved in the political events in Fiji of 2000.

On 17 January 2007, 14 days after the removal of the Chief Justice by the military during the 2006 Fijian coup d'état, the President of Fiji, Ratu Josefa Iloilo appointed Justice Gates Acting Chief Justice. The substantive Chief Justice Daniel Fatiaki, had asked the then President of the Court of Appeal Justice Gordon Ward, to "hold the fort" for the judiciary as a de facto Acting Chief Justice. The President of the Court of Appeal was one of the judicial officers specifically disqualified under the Constitution from acting as Chief Justice. Chief Justice Fatiaki made public statements attacking Justice Gates for taking the position.

In September 2007 six judges from the Fiji Court of Appeal resigned due to concerns over Gates' handling of administration.

A briefing given by Gates to Fiji's Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama is thought by some to have led to the expulsion of envoys from Australia and New Zealand from Fiji. Gates acted as temporary president of Fiji between late September and early October 2010 during the absence of Ratu Epeli Nailatikau. In December 2010 the United States Embassy failed to issue Gates with a visa to represent Fiji at an International Criminal Court convention.