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As rugby coach Ben Ryan waits for $300,000 in unpaid salary, 15s coach Inoke Male and five others unceremoniously get the boot from FRU

27/1/2014

17 Comments

 

Also booted out are logistics manager Semi Rogoyawa, Sevens administrator Priya Cook, storeman Maretino Atonio and
groundsman Kaveni Raitamata

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By VICTOR LAL

The Fiji Rugby Union has been forced to lay off five employees – including popular national 15s coach Inoke Male – as the International Rugby Board’s $3.3m financial sanctions over the military-dominated administration’s woeful running of the national game start to bite.

The unlucky five including a Rugby House kitman and a janitor were called in one by one to the office of acting CEO Dr Berlin Kafoa to receive their enveloped termination letters as the FRU struggles to balance the books after the IRB confirmed they would be withholding the annual development grant of £1m, almost three years after the Bainimarama government took control of the FRU by forcing fresh board elections using funding for the 2011 Rugby World Cup as an inducement.

The IRB has so little faith in the running of the FRU – led for two years from 2011 by the Land Force commander Colonel Mosese Tikoitoga as chairman, and now by permanent secretary Finance Filimone Waqabaca – that they wanted to appoint their own hand-picked director to safeguard the IRB funding.

As if the sackings were not bad enough, word from Las Vegas is that Ben Ryan has still not been paid a penny of the $300,000 salary promised by the Fiji National Sports Commission, run by one of Bainimarama’s daughters. It’s understood the FNSC is holding up all FRU payments until they are satisfied with the paperwork and acquittals provided by the FRU for the three-Test tour of Europe late last year which was partly-financed by Commission.

That process of financial reconciliation could now take even longer as Male was coach of the Europe tour, and another of the sacked employees, Semi Rogoyawa was the tour’s logistics manager.

And to top off all the drama and intrigue, mystery still surrounds the outcome of the biggest and potentially most controversial sponsorship deal in the country’s history, even though the key Fiji Rugby Union board member in charge of sponsorship has returned after an invigorating detox programme that involved daily bowel cleansing, male on male full-body massages and spiritual readings and lessons.

Supermarket tycoon Baljeet Singh, who has successfully whipped up the fevered competition between Vodafone and Digicel, was an inpatient at the Rakiraki-based Masada Practice run by Dr Epeli Nailatikau.

It’s understood that Singh and the rest of the FRU board were stunned by Digicel’s decision to match the $5-6m per annum offer from a Vodafone-led consortium, as was their right under Digicel’s just-expired FRU sponsorship agreement.

And the board are not really certain how to proceed without risking the ire of prime minister Frank Bainimarama.

A press conference to unveil regime-friendly Vodafone as the new lead sponsor, along with Fiji Airways, C J Patel, Merchant Finance and Fijian Holdings, was scheduled by the FRU for January 17 and then cancelled at the last minute – but so late in the day that the Fiji Airways CEO had already left Nadi for Suva.

In between all of the sackings, the FRU board have now asked for two separate outside counsel to test what flexibility there is to proceed with Vodafone in spite of Digicel’s offer.


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INOKE MALE: Popular with with rugby fans but falls foul with FRU Board - gets the boot
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DETOXED: Baljeet Singh still struggling to clean up the FRU financial mess. Supermarket tycoon Singh, who has successfully whipped up the fevered competition between Vodafone and Digicel, was an inpatient at the Rakiraki-based Masada Practice run by Dr Epeli Nailatikau.
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HOLE IN THE WALLET: Word from Las Vegas is that Ben Ryan has still not been paid a penny of the $300,000 salary promised by the Fiji National Sports Commission, run by one of Bainimarama’s daughters.
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Dictating dictator daddy's agenda: It’s understood the FNSC is holding up all FRU payments until they are satisfied with the paperwork and acquittals provided by the FRU for the three-Test tour of Europe late last year which was partly-financed by Commission. And the FRU board are not really certain how to proceed without risking the ire of prime minister Frank Bainimarama.
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CLOWNS OF FRU BOARD: In 2011, the dictator had appointed New Zealander and Suva-based lawyer Carl Ngamoki-Cameron as his nominee to the FRU Board.
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17 Comments
Annon
27/1/2014 01:29:49 am

Common Victor stop the bullshit!! The PM's daughter does not lead the Sports Commission but is the CEO of the Fiji Sports Council which are two totally different entities. The second correction is that the board of FRU has a government nominee as per its constitution which was Tikoitoga in the last board and Waqabaca in the current board. The rest of the board member were elected in the FRU AGM so your insistence that it is a government board is a big lie. The elections were done without any government interference. If you do love rugby in Fiji then cut the bullshit and give us solutions. If you didn't know Inoke Male and Rogoyawa are both ex Navy sailors and are being sacked by the independent board of FRU and without government or Franks influence. The board themselves elected Waqabaca as the chairman like they did for Tikoitoga previously. If you want to know about the mess in FRU you got to look at when it was started which involved your buddies namely Keni Dakuidreketi, Keneth Zink and Bill Gavoka. The previous board and the current one are still trying to work their way out of that shit which involves the Digicel sponsorship which didn't allow anyone else to sponsor. Digicel has ripped huge benefits and failed to increase its sponsorship over the years only now have they matched an alternate deal. That's what Keni and your buddies locked FRU into. Please don't write on what you don't know because you are being laughed at a fool.

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Frankly Bananas
27/1/2014 02:05:08 am

You don't know what you're talking about: the FSC's CEO and Chairman both sit on and dominate the Sport Commission's board. Tikoitoga was not the PM's nominee in 2011. An FRU press release dated May 5 2011 confirmed that Carl Ngamoki-Cameron was the PM's nominee. Everybody is looking for solutions, But let's work on the basis of correct facts.

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FRU Press Officer
27/1/2014 02:53:53 am

For the record, Annon: See our Press Release


NGAMOKI-CAMERON IS PM'S NOMINEE TO FRU BOARD

The Prime Minister, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama, has today appointed New Zealander and Suva-based lawyer Carl Ngamoki-Cameron as his nominee to the Board of the Fiji Rugby Union (FRU).

This brings the FRU Board to its full complement of nine directors with the appointment of eight members at the FRU’s annual general meeting at the Outrigger Resort in Sigatoka last Saturday.

FRU Minute Taker
27/1/2014 02:02:54 am

Annon, stop bullshitting!

Tikoitoga was not the PM’s nominee in 2011 (see http://www.fijirugby.com/pages.cfm/fru-news?newsid=new-fru-board-elected)

New FRU Board elected Underline 01 May, 2011
Tailevu delegates at the FRU AGM (L-R): Ratu Lepani Tagicakibau and Ratu Eliki Tikoidraubuta.
A new Fiji Rugby Union (FRU) Board was elected during the FRU’s Annual General Meeting, held at the Outrigger Resort in Sigatoka on 30 April, to guide the FRU forward over the next two years. No members of the previous Board sought re-election.

The new FRU Board members are:

Mosese Tikoitoga, Rupeni Nacewa, Salacieli Naivilawasa, Joeli Cawaki, Joeli Baledrokadroka, Napolioni Batimala, Ilaitia Tuisese and Cama Raimuria.

Of the eight new members elected only Ilaitia Tuisese has previously served as an elected member of an FRU Board while Rewa Dairy chief financial officer and company secretary Cama Raimuria was co-opted onto the previous Board in October last year following the sudden resignation of the former Director Finance Alipate Naiorosui.

The appointments of Tuisese and Raimuria respectively were made by the FRU Board of Trustees.

Lawyer Joeli Baledrokadroka assumes the position of Director Legal while chartered accountant Napolioni Batimala will now assume the role of Director Finance.

One position on the Board remains to be filled being that of the Prime Minister’s nominee which had been previously filled by Commodore Esala Teleni.

The new Chairman of the Board will be decided after the first meeting of the Board when the Directors will vote to elect their new Chairman.

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Fiji Sports Commission Notetaker
27/1/2014 02:05:36 am

Annon get your facts right and stop protecting your Kai dictator's daughter

Sports commission names board

11:32 Fri Feb 08, 2013

Peter Maizey and Litiana Loabuka have been named in the new Fiji Sports Commission board

Taken from/By: FBC
Report by: Eleina McDonald

The first ever board for the Fiji Sports Commission has been appointed today.

Fiji Sports Council chair Peter Maizey along with Sashi Dhanji, David Voss, FSC chief executive Litiana Loabuka and Cathy Wong have been named.

There will be three more persons named later after the commission meets with FASANOC.

The appointments were announced by Minister of Sports Commander Viliame Naupoto.

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FRU Financial Controller
27/1/2014 02:21:44 am

Who is leaking information to Victor? It must be Ben Ryan, for it is true he has not been paid the $300,000 as it is claimed from Las Vegas, the gamling city, for Frank's daughter and the father are gambling with our money and the fate of Fiji rugby

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Annon
27/1/2014 03:54:02 am

Yes that's right Carl was PM nominee. Tikoitoga was nominated by Nadi Rugby Union. So there you go Victor Bullshit Lal. You had it wrong. And still CEO of Fiji Sports council is only a member of the board and doesn't make the decisions herself. So all above comments prove that Victor Lal is bullshiting big time.

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Confused Annon
27/1/2014 08:58:35 am

Annon - why don't you admit it - in haste, you got it in wrong: "The second correction is that the board of FRU has a government nominee as per its constitution which was Tikoitoga in the last board"

You seem to know everything - is Ryan owed $300,000 or not?

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Rajesh
27/1/2014 11:56:24 am

FRU mess will never stop bec its run by idiots .Fru need to be run by expat and need big clean up like Both FSC and Regime govt.
No accountabilty and Transparancy.only talk but not action.
Fru get million in IRB/Sponsorship and grant .where the million goes.
Learn from FFA they got good property and Academy with fifa grant and loan.
FFA need clean up too.
All govt and sporting org have become like regime .they coup each other for power and dont care about spending funds and dont like to be asked for accounts.coup culture have entered in sporting org.shame.

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Isoa
29/1/2014 10:12:53 pm

"Learn from FFA they got good property and Academy with fifa grant and loan.
FFA need clean up too."

Rajesh, this is why you are never taken seriously. Your contradictory, flip-flop stands are almost childishly embarrassing.

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Raijeli Ratu
27/1/2014 04:23:12 pm

That Ana Tuiketei was also legal adviser in Rugby board, wasn't she? She was nominated by PS of Finance whom she has been dating for sometime now.
What is happening man, 90% of people are someone's nominey. No wonder workforce is a failure in almost all the ministry.

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Tired
27/1/2014 04:38:16 pm

Wailei sa da oca mai..................ni feifutu kece mada

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kalivati
27/1/2014 06:43:34 pm

who gives a shit if you are tired, dont vaga koro, just dont read the blog. these discussions are about an idiot and his goons destroying our Fiji and people need to know..

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Luvfiji
28/1/2014 12:22:58 am

LOL

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Bad Karma
28/1/2014 03:10:22 pm

Chairman FRU, Filimone Waqabaca was in Las Vegas for boys to win the tourament and bring back the Cup to Fiji, just like he did when he travelled to Moscow. He is bad karma, pastor, treating FRU staff badly and now "womanising" and alcohol drinking. Fiji Sevens will never win another tournament as long as he and his pathetic board and incompetent CEO Berlin Kafoa remain at Rugby House.

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rugby fan
29/1/2014 02:32:18 am

Victor,

You say Male was a popular coach! My foot. Rugby fans know he is not up to mark at the international level unless you know more about rugby than us.

As for Rajesh singh. He must be cursing himself for not sucking up to the IG as he is so unhappy and frustrated all day in Auck. No one gives a shit about him there and hence he has the most posts on all the blogs.

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Keep The Faith link
29/1/2014 05:28:17 pm

So what's your move Vodafone and cronies?

The Digi crew want their pound of flesh and they're waving paper (note NOT in kind 'support') to get it back
http://www.fijisun.com.fj/2014/01/30/digicel-battles-to-keep-rugby/

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