Blog Archives

Putting the boot into Bainimarama and Khaiyum

19/6/2013

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RISING FURY: Military top brass tell Bainimarama to resign if he wants to enter politics and call for the sacking of Aiyaz Khaiyum. Ministers Colonel Timoci Natuva and Major Nemani Vuniwaqa hand in resignations; also Colonel Sam Saumatua knew nothing of the resignation of the two town administrators. Meanwhile UFDF joins in Bainimarama's resignation call and demands level political playing field

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One foot in British Virgin Island tax haven and another in Fiji

17/6/2013

1 Comment

Garment manufacturing tycoon Ramesh Solanki, along with Kalpana, Rajendra Kumar and Meena Jekishan, exposed in the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ exploration of the secretive world of offshore companies and tax haven

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The Secretive World of Tax Havens and Fiji's Wily Tax Expert Lawyer

15/6/2013

8 Comments

Howard Lawyers principal partner William Wylie Clarke, along with John and Shelley Miller, exposed in the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ exploration of the secretive world of offshore companies and tax haven

By VICTOR LAL
Special guest contributor

Click HERE to navigate and see the full map and details. We are still waiting for Clarke's comments. Listed Address means Contact postal address as it appears in the original databases obtained by ICIJ.

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June 12th, 2013

13/6/2013

1 Comment

EQUITY OVER DIVERSITY
The Impact on i-taukei Fijians of Merging Government Scholarship Programs
The scholarship gap before the merger were somewhat marginal. However it is now compounded, giving the upper edge to Indo-Fijians after introduction of merit-based system in 2010

By VICTOR LAL
Special guest contributor

Editor: For full analysis click HERE

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UFDF meets Commonwealth officials and speaks out on "super salaries"

11/6/2013

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June 08th, 2013

8/6/2013

2 Comments

BBC Panorama expose Fiji's brutal regime in Cash for Questions sting

7/6/2013

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Fiji's Lying Attorney-General and Minister for Justice

4/6/2013

5 Comments

Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum lied to United States Immigration. What other Government has he lied to since becoming the illegal A-G and Minister for Justice?
"The USG revoked Sayed-Khaiyum's 10-year visa in early 2007, notifying him by phone and letter. Interestingly, on the transit-visa application, Sayed-Khaiyum checked the box indicating he had never had a U.S. visa revoked." Ambassador Dinger to Washington

By VICTOR LAL

Wikileaks has released new batch of cables including those sent from the US Embassy in Fiji to Washington. One of the cables dated 11 May 2008 from US ambassador Larry Dinger to Washington reveal that Fiji's Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum had lied on his US visa immigration form. We will let the cable speak to us:

"Fiji's interim Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum phoned Suva media from Vienna on Friday, May 9, to make public his unhappiness at Embassy Suva having denied him a visa to transit Los Angeles to and from a U.N conference in Vienna. He also complained that the U.S. denial came at "the eleventh hour." Sayed-Khaiyum said the interim government (IG) is filing a complaint with the UN in New York. We provide background.

The actual story

Embassy Suva received a dipnote from Fiji MFA on the afternoon of Wednesday, April 30, seeking transit visas of LA for May 6 and 9/10 to facilitate Sayed-Khaiyum's attendance at a meeting in Vienna of the Expanded Pilot Review Group on the implementation of the UN Convention Against Corruption.

The same afternoon, we informed EAP/ANP of the request and sought Washington's response, given that Sayed-Khaiyum is on the Fiji post-coup visa-sanction list. (Note: The USG revoked Sayed-Khaiyum's 10-year visa in early 2007, notifying him by phone and letter. Interestingly, on the transit-visa application, Sayed-Khaiyum checked the box indicating he had never had a U.S. visa revoked.)

On the morning of Friday, May 2, EAP/ANP provided Washington's response to deny the visa. We immediately phoned MFA and followed up with a dipnote, delivered the same day. On Monday, May 5, Sayed-Khaiyum phoned the Embassy and had a polite conversation with DCM Mann, who confirmed the USG denial of the transit-visa request.

U.S. policy re UN-related visa requests
To the best of our knowledge, USG policy on UN-related visas for those on the Fiji visa-sanction list is to allow an exception in those cases where travel is to New York or elsewhere in the U.S. for UN business, acknowledging a U.S. obligation under the UN headquarters agreement.

Filling out voter registration
form. Can details be trusted?

Similarly, the USG has permitted travel to Washington for World Bank/IMF meetings. In Sayed-Khaiyum's case, the meeting was not in the U.S. but in Vienna; and, as he has demonstrated, he had an alternative route to get there: via Seoul.

Media coverage and reactions

Fiji media have given Sayed-Khaiyum's public complaint reasonable coverage. Over the weekend, Embassy Suva responded to media requests for comment by noting that USG visa sanctions on interim government ministers remain in place. We have not yet commented on the UN angle, though we did so in the past in relation to interim PM Bainimarama's attendance at the UNGA last September.

From what we hear, Sayed-Khaiyum's revelation that the USG denied the visa has given heart to a number of opponents of the IG, who rightly perceive Sayed-Khaiyum to be one of the IG's most outspoken defenders of restraints on human-rights. Such restraints have included deportation of media publishers and, for some Fiji citizens, restraints on travel abroad.

One blog noted over the weekend that last year the IG (Sayed-Khaiyum) refused to permit travel by a Fiji-citizen employee of the UN's Suva office to a UN conference in Tonga. DINGER"

Fijileaks Editor: Khaiyum is yet to respond to questions sent to him.

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Forward>>

Garment manufacturing tycoon Ramesh Solanki, along with Kalpana, Rajendra Kumar and Meena Jekishan, exposed in the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ exploration of the secretive world of offshore companies and tax haven

Howard Lawyers principal partner William Wylie Clarke, along with John and Shelley Miller, exposed in the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ exploration of the secretive world of offshore companies and tax haven

EQUITY OVER DIVERSITY The Impact on i-taukei Fijians of Merging Government Scholarship Programs The scholarship gap before the merger were somewhat marginal. However it is now compounded, giving the upper edge to Indo-Fijians after introduction of merit-based system in 2010

Archives

EQUITY OVER DIVERSITY
The Impact on i-taukei Fijians of Merging Government Scholarship Programs
The scholarship gap before the merger were somewhat marginal. However it is now compounded, giving the upper edge to Indo-Fijians after introduction of merit-based system in 2010