Cogito, ergo sum. I think, therefore I am. (René Descartes, mathematician and philosopher,1599-1650)

Monday 22 June 2009

(+) Snippets: Irregular if not Corrupt: Shady Deals by "NZ Businessman" Ballu Khan and Provincial Chiefs; PER Extended; New Constitution; Police Crusade


Corruption?
One of the reasons given for the 2006 Coup was the need to mount a "clean up" campaign to control corruption. To date no major incidence of corruption has been proved in the Courts, although several cases are pending.

Now FijiVillage reports on two new cases, the first involving "New Zealand Businessman" Ballu Khan; the other involving four provincial chiefs.

The Fiji Development Bank has demanded the Native Land Trust Board repay $3 million to the FDB that was loaned by businessman Ballu Khan and the company Vanua Development Corporation.

PM Frank Bainimarama (photo, in collar and tie!) wants to know how the NLTB, that is supposed to be the trustee of native land, could act as guarantor for a loan to only one individual who does not even own any native land. The current NLTB administration has declined to repay the loan saying they were not the ones who guaranteed the loan in the first place.

Bainimarama has also revealed that a known provincial council building currently rented by the government only belongs to four chiefs from that province and the land belongs to a few Indo-Fijian businessmen.This only came to light after the government made the decision to move out of the building and the chiefs said the decision to vacate the building will lead to losses for the provincial council. It was then discovered the chiefs, and not the Provincial Council or the people from the province, owned the building on land owned by some Indo-Fijian businessmen.

Public Emergency Regulations
PER, due to expire on July 10 and renewable on a monthly basis, has been extended for a further month, supposedly due to the number of meetings to be held over the few weeks. An announcement that at least some of the present restrictions on the media and public meetings would be lifted would have been better received, and could have marked the beginning of a new dialogue.

New Constitution?
Bainimarama has announced that discussions on a new constitution will commence shortly. As previously stated in this blog, the endeavour will have little support, internally or internationally, unless it is accompanied by inclusive dialogue.

Police Crusade Ends Today

The five day controversial Police Crusade Ruggers for Christ ended today with a march from the Flea market to Sukuna Park. The public was invited to join former National rugby representatives share the changes through Divine Intervention.



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