Public service corruption is widespread in Fiji, says a legal adviser with the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption.
Filimone Lacanivalu says corrupt networks are established in the Government from the top down.
He has been studying a flood of complaints since the commission was created in April.
Nonehas resulted in court action, but Lacanivalu is convinced by what he has seen that corruption has been rife.
The commission was set up by Fiji's post-coup Government.
Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama said: "Groups of persons began to use our tradition and culture as an excuse for what was simply corruption."
The commission has received 1345 complaints, and 236 cases are registered for investigation.
They include allegations of an immigration scam and police extortion connected to the murder of a Nadi jeweller.
Lacanivalu says they may not be heard for a year because of court backlogs.
He has taken advice from Hong Kong lawyers who have reviewed the files. An extra lawyer has been hired and 20 police officers have been assigned to the commission, "but we need more".
The commission will $3 million to hire more staff next year.
Lacanivalu, a former police prosecutor, says New Zealand could lend expertise in the complex investigations of state corruption because "we are neighbours".
Professor Vijay Naidu, head of development studies at the University of the South Pacific, says corruption is widespread around the world, "and I don't think Fiji is as corrupt as Pakistan, Bangladesh or Nigeria".
But he adds that each year the Fijian Attorney General was reporting abuses of office and misuse of public money. "He had been almost screaming about the problems but very little was done."
* A tribunal was appointed in Fiji during the Weekend Herald's visit to hear allegations of misbehaviour against suspended Chief Justice Daniel Fatiaki, including claims he falsified income tax returns.
