The government of the Solomon Islands has suspended the Pacific nation’s police chief after OCCRP and its member center, In-depth Solomons, revealed in March that an internal investigation found he had destroyed drug evidence, intimidated dissenting officers, and lied to investigators.
The decision to suspend Ian Vaevaso was made by the governor-general on Wednesday on the recommendation of recently appointed Prime Minister Matthew Wale, who had previously called for the removal of the police commissioner when he was opposition leader.
Vaevaso was appointed as the head of the 3,000-officer department on April 24, despite allegations that in early 2024 he ordered subordinates to hand over confiscated methamphetamine and then dumped it into the sea.
Previous reporting by OCCRP and In-depth Solomons found that prosecutors last year recommended suspending and formally questioning Vaevaso ahead of potential criminal charges over the incident. However, the case was derailed by a bureaucratic standoff.
The impasse—between prosecutors, the police department, and an oversight body called the Police and Prison Services Commission (PPSC)—meant that Vaevaso was not interviewed, suspended, or charged at the time.
His suspension now raises questions about the PPSC, which officials in the previous government had said formally closed the case against the police chief.
Wale’s press secretary Douglas Marau confirmed that the suspension was made on the advice of the new prime minister, who was sworn in last month.
“The decision was informed by the fact that several of the allegations in question were not raised prior to Mr. Vaevaso’s appointment,” Marau said.
Vaevaso, who has denied any wrongdoing, will now face an independent tribunal. Marau said this will provide the police commissioner with “a fair and transparent opportunity to clear his name.”
In a message on Thursday, Vaevaso wrote that he “fully respected and will fully support this process of the constitution. I am ready to face these made-up allegations raised against me.”
The suspension, which went into effect immediately, “serves to facilitate a thorough and impartial inquiry” into the allegations against Vaevaso, said Rawcliffe Ziza, private secretary to Governor-General David Tiva Kapu — whose role is largely ceremonial.
“The inquiry centers on the improper management of methamphetamine narcotics in 2024, alongside concerns regarding his selection for the role of police commissioner,” Ziza said.
The leadership change comes at a perilous moment for law enforcement in the Pacific. Small island states like the Solomons have increasingly become transit hubs for narcotics bound for lucrative markets in Australia and New Zealand. Highlighting the scale and sophistication of the illicit trade, at least seven so-called narco-submarines have been discovered in the region over the past two years—four of them in the Solomon Islands.
The influx of cheap methamphetamine has also begun driving a domestic addiction crisis in several Pacific island countries.
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