"In my experience, Mohammed Saneem has always adopted a posture of deference to the AG, visiting him at his office on Level 7 of Suvavou House and standing before him as the AG sits at his desk addressing him as “Sir”. To my eyes, this was highly unusual for the holder of an independent office of state, who would normally be expected to be treated as an equal to a politician, even when that politician is his line minister. And I can personally attest to the level of apprehension Mohammed Saneem displayed before any encounter with the AG because I have witnessed it on multiple occasions. When I worked on the 7th floor, he would sometimes come to my office along the corridor from the AG and ask “is he in yet?”, peering around the door like an anxious meerkat waiting for the AG to arrive in majestic procession with his security detail. It was so striking as to be a subject of wider discussion in government." Graham Davis on Mohammed Saneem

DINESH PATEL: $30,000 TO FijiFIRST PARTY The R.C. Manubhai owners and staff donated thousands of dollars to the FijiFIRST Party

6 August 2015: FBC News Comment Page Five Members for Fiji Roads Authority

IN AUGUST 2015, when the names of the five Board members of the Fiji Roads Authority was announced by the then Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Parveen Kumar Bala, one Deo Raj Raju posted a comment on the FBC News website, asking whether "we have a list of all the people and companies that donated money to political parties...TRANSPARENCY'. Five years later, we can reveal that Dinesh Patel, the Managing Director of R.C.Manubhai, who was appointed chairperson of FRA in August 2015, donated $30,000 to FijiFIRST Party. On 1 September 2014, he donated $10,000 to the FFP Treasurer. A year after his appointment as Chairperson, he donated another $10,000. He is listed as having donated to FFP Head Office on 28 January 2016. The following year, on 17 March 2017, he donated another $10,000 but we don't know who at FFP received his donation. His wife, Mayuri Patel,  also donated to FFP.  She donated $10,000 on the same time, 1 September 2014, as her husband Dinesh Patel. Their son, Premal Patel, made two donations of $5,000 each, on 17 May 2016 and on 28 January 2016. The Dinesh Patel family donated a total of $50,000 to FFP between 2014 and 2017. The other R. C. Manubhai family members donated thousands of dollars to FijiFIRST Party. We will reveal their donations later on.

RAJESH PUNJA, the director of Punjas Pte Ltd donated $45,000 to FijiFIRST Party

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/new-act-mp-simon-court-was-deported-from-fiji-in-2017/MQVP6FD5RP5XID67VUI2DKYY7A/

THE THREE are Wella [Vadivelu] Pillay, Rajesh Patel, and Romit Meghji.
Pillay donated $40,000 to FFP. On 20 June 2014, he donated $10,000. On 12 March 2015, he donated $10,000. Two years later, on 18 April 2017, he donated another $10,000. On 15 August 2019, $10,000. Total:$40,000. Twice, he donated as Wella Pillay and the other two under Vadivelu Pillay
RAJESH K PATEL also donated a total of $40,000 to FFP. On 4 July 2014, he made a donation of $10,000. A year later, on 22 October 2015, he gave another $10,000. On 13 December 2016, his $10,000 donation was received by Shailesh Kumar on behlaf of FFP. On 26 January 2018, Rajesh Patel donated another $10,000.
ROMIT MEGHJI: WE couldn't find him in our database under Meghji but eventually we found him under Parshottam. On 14 June 2017, he donated $10,000 to FijiFirst Party. We will be disclosing these three individuals family donations later on.
In the FDB Annual Report 2019, the bank stated that loans amounting to $2,734,885 (2018:$1,786,651) were advanced to 'a company where a director has a related party interest'. The annual Report said the $2,734,885 in loans were 'provided under normal terms and conditions'.
Fijileaks understands the director mentioned is RAJESH PATEL, who has shares in the company that obtained a loan of more than $2.73million.

CHICKENS COME HOME TO ROOST: In the FDB Profile, RAJESH PATEL is mentioned also as the Director of Nando's Fiji. But having borrowed millions to invest in the Nando's franchise, it was forced to shut down following a visit by Nando's overseas director

Fiji@50: Rajesh Patel with his Independence Commermorative Medal

There have been persistent complaints that he has been allegedly spending most of his time in India dabbling in business interests rather than on Fiji

Following devastation caused by Tropical Cyclone Winston in February 2016, Jack's of Fiji contributed $100,000 to the Prime Minister's Disaster Relief Fund and personally distributed $120,000 worth of brand new clothing and grocercy packages to affected communities in the Western Division. Four years later, we are still waiting to see an audited account of the Prime Minister's Disaster Relief Fund running into millions.
Below, Jack's Family donation of $160,000 to FijiFIRST Party. Jack's motto, 'Take Home Your Memories of Fiji'. We have framed their donations as a souvenir for you to ponder. We insist that their mega donations make a mockery of the $10,000 donation decree cap. The ordinary voter, including those making local souvenirs for the company, will never have the luxury to sit down and write out thousands of dollars in cheques to FFP. 

Source: Fijileaks Database based on Fijian Elections Office FFP Donor Lists. In the Nadi Kshatriya Listing, Shree Gibson is listed as Sheree Gibson Khatri, Jack's of Fiji, P.O.Box 351, Nadi

HE was always ready to listen to us and was OUR conduit to SODELPA.
Tabaiwalu was running for Deputy Party Leader before he passed away

ASHOK Desai donated $10,000 on 29 December 2016. Receipt No: 1620. Shailesh Kumar accepted the donation on behalf of the FijiFIRST Party

A director of C J Patel, Ashok Desai, has denied the claim made in [Fiji High] Court, saying it was an absolute lie that his company financed or colluded with the May 2000 coup in the overthrow of Chaudhry government, February 2003

"I was being far too generous in my assessment of the Fijian media last week in describing the Fiji Sun as a travesty of a newspaper. It is, in fact, a grotesque parody of a newspaper – a propaganda rag not only for the FijiFirst government but the Chinese Communist Party which the Fijian people can no longer trust and should boycott."
Graham Davis, Grubsheet Feejee, 20 October 2020

Shailesh Kumar donated $70,000 on 20 September 2014 but FFP used the American system to confuse us

"Mr Speaker, Sir, The response that we got from MESAKE DAWAI, Registrar of Political Parties (Dawai is Review & Compliance Officer): The Fijian Elections Office is currently dealing with compliance methods in getting NFP to submit its list of donations. This party (NFP), Sir, has not supplied its list of donors since 2014/2015)". That is Election Minister Aiyaz Khaiyum speaking, while holding up Dawai's letter in Parliament. This week we wrote to Dawai asking him if a so-called Foundation Member of a political party is permitted to donate over $50,000, and his reply to us: "We kindly request that you seek independent legal advise on this issue." If so, why he ran and answered Khaiyum but is telling Fijileaks to go and get independent advice on Khaiyum's Donation Decree Cap? We wrote back to Dawai, pointing out that we were exercising our right under provisions of section 25 of the Access to Information Act. Of course, no response from Dawai. This $70,000 donation was in 2014, which means FFP should have been de-registered and its general secretary Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum hauled before the Fijian courts for breaching his own Donation Decree

Fijileaks: We have redeacted his Voting ID number from the Voter Roll

Subsection (2) of the Donation Decree 'shall not apply to any political donation made by an founding member of the political party as political donation to the initial assets of the party within the first year of its existence'. We, however, argue that Shailesh Kumar is not a Founding Member of the FFP.   Where did he get the $70,000 in 2014? Did he donate by Cheque or Cash in a Brown Paper Bag? Who at FijiFIRST PARTY Head Office received such a large amount of donation, in clear breach of the donation decree? Did he have $70,000 in his bank account on the day he made his BIG DONATION, on 20 September 2014? We will only know when he is taken into custody? Even if he had the funds to cover his donation (presuming he gave a cheque), he still broke the law.
He was allegedly seen by countless Fijians going around on behalf of FFP soliciting for donations, especially from BIG Gujarati businessmen and their families. As we have disclosed previously, in 2016, he single-handedly collected a staggering $515,000 on behalf of FijiFIRST PARTY, mostly from the Tappoos, Punjas, and Patels. Was he authorized to act as financial party agent?  We will never know how much he collected and how much he declared to FFP. Was the $70,000 'Black Money' from donors who did not want to be identified (or by donors who also gave extra cash) but handed by him to FFP as his own contribution to the party, and in breach of Khaiyum's Donation Decree? He and FFP clearly broke the LAW in 2014 on $10,000 legal limit, throwing the entire electoral process and the donation decree into  question. The Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem must be taken into custody  to establish if he was complicit in the donation scam. We also call for a general Commission of Inquiry into the Donation Scandal involving all the political parties, with FFP leading the PACK. ONE PERSON, ONE VOTE, was a hollow SLOGAN when Big Money was King in Fiji Polls! Shailesh Kumar, Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum, and Mohammed Saneem must be subjected to the full force of the law

Was he really FOUNDING MEMBER OF THE FIJIFIRST PARTY in 2014?

IF we read the FijiFIRST PARTY CONSTITUTION, Shailesh Kumar was NEVER, and still is NOT, a FOUNDING MEMBER. Either FFP embellished his position in the party or it was deliberately inserted to deceive the Fijian Elections Office. Whatever Ponga title is after his Donor name, he broke the law, and so did Khaiyum and Saneem by hiding his illegal $70,000 donation from us for the last SIX YEARS. One cannot become a Foundation Member after the Party is formed. You become a Foundation Member when it is formed.

In 2016, Shailesh Kumar collected $515,000 in donations for FijiFirst Party. But just look at the erratic way he has issued receipts, raising serious questions. On 14 September 2016, he issued receipt number 933 to Vinod Tappoo for $10,000. On the same day he issued receipt number 954 to Kamlesh Tappoo. Three mothers later, on 13 December 2016, his receipt numbers are suddenly issued in descending order: 944-949. As we asked previously, where did he get hold of the Tappoos - in their boardrooms, in their houses, or in a hired bus, and whether the womenfolk really gave him the donations in person, in cash or in cheque? There is widespread acceptance among the Indo-Fijian community that most women do not have personal bank accounts running into thousands of dollars. How can Saneem claim FFP donation list is in order? We call on FICAC to take over the investigation. And, for these women donors and their children to prove that they actually gave Shailesh Kumar their own thousands of dollars as donation to FijiFIRST PARTY between 2014 and 2019

The money was collected on 28/8/2014

HOW was $F23,237.92 in HARD CASH repatriated into Fiji? In DIPLOMATIC SUITCASE? From the receipt issued to FijiFIRST Sydney, the money was received in CASH. Who brought the money in Australian currency and converted it into Fiji Dollars? Was it Frank Bainimarama? If so, did he declare the cash to Immigration authorities in Syndey and on arrival in Fiji? FRANK Bainimarama was fund-raising in Sydney in August 2014. According to FFP Donor List to the Fijian Elections Office, the money was received on 28 August 2014. Why was the receipt issued to the FijiFirst Sydney Chapter on 16 September 2014? The only way we can establish the truth is by filing an official complaint with FICAC and the Australian Federal Police against FFP and its Australian FijiFIRST Chapter

 Who issued the receipt? Whose signature is it? Who received the receipt? Was it posted to the Sydney Chapter or someone from Sydney collected it in person from FFP Headquarters at 96 Brown Street, Suva? How do we know the amount listed in the receipt is factually correct? How was the money raised, Aiyaz Khaiyum? Through Gosh Fulia, Kava Fulia, Beer Fulia, Taralala Fulia or simply cash dumped into Brown Jiffy Bag? Who were the donors? Names, please? And, why did Supervisor of Elections accept the Australian donation as Gospel Truth?
The former FFP Sydney Chapter general secretary JASON NARAYAN has refused to co-operate with us. He had donated $600 to FFP and in October 2014 he (Jason) and FFP Australia Chapter president Alan Gork had flown into Fiji to be part of FijiFIRST West interfaith thanksgiving service at Churchill Park, Lautoka. It seems he has switched his political allegiance from FFP to SODELPA

Jason Narayan donated the money on 10/8/2014

Fijians protest against Bainimarama's 2014 trip to Sydney

THE FACT OF THE MATTER IS, MR SPEAKER SIR, 'Our donations are squeaky clean...Who donated $70,000 to NFP through Gosh Fulia, Sir..."