After returning from military service in Malaya, Tora was president of the North West Branch of the Wholesale and Retail General Workers' Union.
In an angry reaction on 24 August, Commodore Bainimarama accused Tora of using fear to influence voters in the upcoming election by threatening instability if indigenous Fijian parties do not win.
'In 2000, Apisai Tora and a group of people at the Fijian Holdings boardroom, requested me as commander of the Military to remove Tui Vuda, Ratu Iloilo – whilst he was just a week in the Presidency," Bainimarama alleged.
"If he claims to be fighting for indigenous Fijian rights then he should explain to the general public why he tried to remove the Tui Vuda who is a chief of his province."
Meanwhile, Tora was harshly criticised for his alleged involvement in the plot against President Iloilo by fellow-Senator Ponipate Lesavua (of the opposition Labour Party) and by Ratu Epeli Ganilau, founder of the National Alliance Party, former Chairman of the Great Council of Chiefs, and son of the late President Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau.
In a statement on 29 August, Tora emphatically denied having taken part in any meeting at the Fijian Holdings boardroom where the proposal to remove President Iloilo was allegedly discussed.
Army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Orisi Rabukawaqa rejected Tora's criticism of Bainimarama, saying that the commander had the full support of his troops.
The charge was related to their involvement in the illegal takeover of a military checkpoint on Queens Highway in the Nadi suburb of Sabeto, on 13–14 July 2000.
Tora was initially acquitted on such charges on 3 November 2004, with Magistrate Syed Shah finding inconsistencies in police statements and court evidence.
The Director of Public Prosecutions filed an appeal which was adjourned until 19 September, when High Court Justice John Connors overturned Tora's previous acquittal, along with that of his 12 accomplices.
State lawyer Samuela Qica had told the court the previous day that the maximum sentence for unlawful assembly was twelve months.
Lawyer Iqbal Khan applied for bail, pending an appeal against Tora's conviction, but Justice Connors refused the application on 28 September.
If he missed two consecutive sessions, however, his political fate would be in the hands of Senate President Taito Waqavakatoga, who was empowered to declare his seat vacant for his nonattendance.
Lawyer Iqbal Khan announced on 14 October that he had filed an application on Tora's behalf for him to be released on a compulsory supervision order (CSO).
Citing previous instances of persons convicted and imprisoned on coup-related charges being released ahead of time, Leweni said that Tora's parole had all the appearances of history repeating itself.
He said the release raised unspecified "national security" concerns, and also questioned the timing, which coincided with the discovery that Fijian agents, former Military personnel, had been involved in illegally arming and training a militia on the island of Bougainville, in Papua New Guinea.
National Alliance Party President Ratu Epeli Ganilau declined to comment, saying that he needed first to clarify the grounds on which the release had been approved.
He said that as an Australian, Hughes should remember how his country had oppressed its Aborigine population to the point of genocide and had denied voting rights to many of them as recently as 1967.
"Too often these days when people speak out on certain matters there are attempts to intimidate or muzzle them and breach their rights by throwing allegations of racism or making hate speeches," he said.
In 2005, Tora came out strongly in favour of the government's controversial Reconciliation, Tolerance, and Unity Bill, which aims to establish a commission empowered to compensate victims and pardon perpetrators of the 2000 coup, and has harshly attacked its detractors.
Tora strongly supported moves to form a grand coalition of ethnic Fijian-dominated parties to contest the election planned for 2006.