Qarase forged a coalition agreement with the Conservative Alliance. The party initially insisted on Speight's release from jail as the price of its participation in the government, but later dropped this demand. The then leader of the party, Ratu Rakuita Vakalalabure, was appointed Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, and two members of the caucus were appointed to the Cabinet. Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu became Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, and Isireli Leweniqila became Minister for Youth, Employment Opportunities, and sport. As part of a deal brokered between the military and the insurrectionists, Ratu Jope Seniloli, another party stalwart, had already been appointed Vice-President in September 2000, following the end of the rebellion. Alleged FLP offer At the annual general meeting held to dissolve the party on 17 February 2006, coup-convict Simione Drole claimed that the Fiji Labour Party had made an offer to the CAMV after the 2001 election. All six CAMV parliamentarians, including coup frontsman George Speight, would be given Cabinet office; one of them would be offered the post of Prime Minister. All prisoners held on coup-related offences would also be freed in return for CAMV support, Fiji Live quoted Drole as saying. "This information was relayed to us on Nukulau by CAMV lawyer Kitione Vuataki," Drole told the meeting. He went on to claim that the CAMV had made the very difficult decision to refuse the offer; the prospect of freedom was tempting, he said, but the priority was to ensure that an ethnic Fijian government held office. FLP leader Mahendra Chaudhry rejected Drole's claims as "utter lies." "Drole should have his head examined," he said. Arrest of CAMV members In 2004, a number of high-profile members of the Conservative Alliance were arrested and charged with treason for their roles in the 2000 coup. On 6 August 2004, Vice-President Seniloli and Deputy Speaker Vakalalabure were convicted and sentenced to terms of four and six years' imprisonment respectively. Youth, Employment, and Sports Minister Leweniqila was acquitted; Justice Nazhat Shameem accepted his defence that he had been coerced into taking an illegal oath of office during the coup. Anxious to retain the support of his coalition partner, and shore up his electoral base in the Bau-Tailevu region, in which Seniloli is an influential chief, Prime Minister Qarase said that he was "dismayed by the severity of the sentences" handed down. His government indicated, however, that it would