IN HAPPIER TIMES in the Interim Government after the 2006 treasonous coup
TRADING BARBS: Mahendra Chaudhry and Aiyaz Khaiyum accuse the other of wrong-doings and telling Lasulasus and Jhooths. It would be helpful if Chaudhry disclosed how much in salary was he receiving as Interim Minister of Finance and Sugar, and who was paying his salary and that of other Interim Ministers who ran and joined the Bainimarama regime after the December 2006 Coups. In their exchanges the two also trade barbs on the $2million that was in Chaudhry's Sydney bank account. Truth: Both tried to pull every stop to prevent Fiji Sun from revealing the details, and the late Fiji Sun publisher Russell Hunter was kidnapped from his house, tortured in custody, and deported from Fiji
Aiyaz Khaiyum on Mahendra Chaudhry, 25 Janaury 2022
How can you trust people like Mahendra Chaudhry - who is a politician, who after eight years of being in the political wilderness because of a lack of qualification - now is qualified to run for parliament - is suddenly put up his head. As usual Mahendra Chaudhry has this whole issue of putting a lot of nonsense into the space hoping some will stick.
You can't trust this man, you simply can't. He is a person who failed to declare his millions of dollars that was offshore - under the Foreign Exchange Act. In fact, he was convicted under that, and secondly, he is also a person who used the taxpayer's funds to fix up his own house when he was PM. But more importantly than that, the fact of the matter is that the contraction and the [economic] growth projections have in fact been validated by independent third parties - not by some biased politician. "
Mahendra Chaudhry replies to Aiyaz Khaiyum, 25 Janaury 2022
OFFSHORE FUNDS
"Khaiyum is a bad loser and has a habit of resorting to personal attacks against his critics. The Minister well knows that I was completely cleared by an independent inquiry which was established by Prime Minister Bainimarama and headed by reputable people from abroad. He is the one who delivered the report of the inquiry team to me at my home and later gave a media conference on the report clearing me of all charges.
However, in 2010 the Bainimarama/Khaiyum regime resurrected the case so as to prevent me from contesting the general elections. They were just too scared to confront me in a general election and resorted to dirty tricks to disqualify me from standing for elections.
TAXPAYERS FUND TO "FIX" PRIVATE HOME"
Once again the Minister deliberately distorts the issue. The Public Works Department did some work at my house as a security requirement for Prime Minister’s residence because I chose to live in my own house. The expenditure was approved by Parliament. This is not something one can say for the huge salary that Aiyaz Khaiyum paid himself secretly through his Aunt Nur Bano’s accounting firm between 2010 and 2013. To this day there has been no disclosure of these secret payments despite calls from the Finance Ministry, the Auditor General’s Office and the Public Accounts Committee. So who is being dishonest now with public funds? People who live in glass houses should not be throwing stones at others. Also: Why isn’t Khaiyum saying anything about the millions of dollars of taxpayer’s money that is spent each year on his security detail – four cars involving the army and the Police when he is not even the prime minister? At least, I was the Prime Minister at the time."
Labour Leader Mahendra Chaudhry has challenged Economy Minister Sayed Khaiyum to a public debate on the state of the national economy and the personal attacks he has levelled at Mr Chaudhry.
“He is wrong on all counts. None of his attacks on me are justified. I challenge him to a public debate so that the whole nation can know the truth.
“Khaiyum is a bad loser and has a habit of resorting to personal attacks against his critics,” Mr Chaudhry said.
The Labour Leader was responding to a “gutter level” attack launched on him by Minister Sayed-Khaiyum on FBC news on the issue of the Minister’s claim that the Fiji economy was projected to grow by 11.3% this year.
Here is Khaiyum’s attack sent to us by FBC. It is followed by Mr Chaudhry’s full reply.
Khaiyum: "Here you have independent organizations - World Bank, ADB etc - including the ANZ who are giving the specific contraction rates, who are giving the specific growth rates. How can you trust people like Mahendra Chaudhry - who is a politician, who after eight years of being in the political wilderness because of a lack of qualification - now is qualified to run for parliament - is suddenly put up his head. As usual Mahendra Chaudhry has this whole issue of putting a lot of nonsense into the space hoping some will stick.
You can't trust this man, you simply can't. He is a person who failed to declare his millions of dollars offshore - under the Foreign Exchange Act. In fact, he was convicted under that, and secondly, he is also a person who used the taxpayer's funds to fix up his own house when he was PM. But more importantly than that, the fact of the matter is that the contraction and the growth projections have in fact been validated by independent third parties - not by some biased politician. "
Chaudhry replies:
I – Economic projections:
It is well acknowledged that Sayed-Khaiyum as Economy Minister has run the Fijian economy and government finances into a state of virtual bankruptcy. The Fijian economy went into a recession well before the onset of the Covid-pandemic. He was forced to slash the 2019/20 Budget by a massive $1.1billion dollars.
Since then, the economy has contracted by at least 25-30% according to independent sources. Government claims 19% which is still quite substantial. It is basic economics that the economy has to recover all this lost ground before it can start growing.
We are still reliant on borrowed funds, and for the first time in Fiji’s history we have to beg for funds from Australia and New Zealand to support our budget. That is how serious our economic plight is under Sayed-Khaiyum’s stewardship.
2. International agencies:
These international financial agencies have been badly discredited in the past. For example - in their assessment of the Greek economy before its collapse in 2007/08; the Indonesian economy before the Asian financial crisis of 1997 and most recently in the case of Fiji in 2019 when the Bainimarama government was forced to slash its Budget by a third (1billion) to avoid a collapse.
These international institutions were painting a positive picture of these bankrupt economies using misleading information supplied by their governments.
3. Personal allegations against Mr Chaudhry:
a. Offshore funds – The Minister well knows that I was completely cleared by an independent inquiry which was established by Prime Minister Bainimarama and headed by reputable people from abroad. He is the one who delivered the report of the inquiry team to me at my home and later gave a media conference on the report clearing me of all charges.
However, in 2010 the Bainimarama/Khaiyum regime resurrected the case so as to prevent me from contesting the general elections. They were just too scared to confront me in a general election and resorted to dirty tricks to disqualify me from standing for elections.
b. Taxpayers money to “fix” private home
Once again the Minister deliberately distorts the issue. The Public Works Department did some work at my house as a security requirement for Prime Minister’s residence because I chose to live in my own house. The expenditure was approved by Parliament.
This is not something one can say for the huge salary that Aiyaz Khaiyum paid himself secretly through his Aunt Nur Bano’s accounting firm between 2010 and 2013. To this day there has been no disclosure of these secret payments despite calls from the Finance Ministry, the Auditor General’s Office and the Public Accounts Committee.
So who is being dishonest now with public funds? People who live in glass houses should not be throwing stones at others.
Also: Why isn’t Khaiyum saying anything about the millions of dollars of taxpayer’s money that is spent each year on his security detail – four cars involving the army and the Police when he is not even the prime minister? At least, I was the Prime Minister at the time.
4.Political gain?
I have always spoken out on national issues and on matters of concern to the people in the past 40 years whether its election time or not.
I have been outspoken on the economy and government finances at all times. Aiyaz Khaiyum well knows that I was the one who disclosed publicly the scandal regarding his and PM Bainimarama’s secret salaries paid by his Aunt Nur Bano’s firm – reportedly around $1m each per year between 2010 and 2013. They tried through the Information Ministry to get us to remove the story from our website but we refused to do so.
Finally, unlike Khaiyum’s failed record as Economy Minister, I have behind me a proven record of success. He cannot beat the record of the Labour Government after just one year in office.
I soundly managed the economy and government finances in that one year. Our undisputed growth rate of 9.6% remains unprecedented.
Finally, I stand by my challenge to Sayed-Khaiyum for a public debate. We can thrash out these issues in front of the entire nation.
“He is wrong on all counts. None of his attacks on me are justified. I challenge him to a public debate so that the whole nation can know the truth.
“Khaiyum is a bad loser and has a habit of resorting to personal attacks against his critics,” Mr Chaudhry said.
The Labour Leader was responding to a “gutter level” attack launched on him by Minister Sayed-Khaiyum on FBC news on the issue of the Minister’s claim that the Fiji economy was projected to grow by 11.3% this year.
Here is Khaiyum’s attack sent to us by FBC. It is followed by Mr Chaudhry’s full reply.
Khaiyum: "Here you have independent organizations - World Bank, ADB etc - including the ANZ who are giving the specific contraction rates, who are giving the specific growth rates. How can you trust people like Mahendra Chaudhry - who is a politician, who after eight years of being in the political wilderness because of a lack of qualification - now is qualified to run for parliament - is suddenly put up his head. As usual Mahendra Chaudhry has this whole issue of putting a lot of nonsense into the space hoping some will stick.
You can't trust this man, you simply can't. He is a person who failed to declare his millions of dollars offshore - under the Foreign Exchange Act. In fact, he was convicted under that, and secondly, he is also a person who used the taxpayer's funds to fix up his own house when he was PM. But more importantly than that, the fact of the matter is that the contraction and the growth projections have in fact been validated by independent third parties - not by some biased politician. "
Chaudhry replies:
I – Economic projections:
It is well acknowledged that Sayed-Khaiyum as Economy Minister has run the Fijian economy and government finances into a state of virtual bankruptcy. The Fijian economy went into a recession well before the onset of the Covid-pandemic. He was forced to slash the 2019/20 Budget by a massive $1.1billion dollars.
Since then, the economy has contracted by at least 25-30% according to independent sources. Government claims 19% which is still quite substantial. It is basic economics that the economy has to recover all this lost ground before it can start growing.
We are still reliant on borrowed funds, and for the first time in Fiji’s history we have to beg for funds from Australia and New Zealand to support our budget. That is how serious our economic plight is under Sayed-Khaiyum’s stewardship.
2. International agencies:
These international financial agencies have been badly discredited in the past. For example - in their assessment of the Greek economy before its collapse in 2007/08; the Indonesian economy before the Asian financial crisis of 1997 and most recently in the case of Fiji in 2019 when the Bainimarama government was forced to slash its Budget by a third (1billion) to avoid a collapse.
These international institutions were painting a positive picture of these bankrupt economies using misleading information supplied by their governments.
3. Personal allegations against Mr Chaudhry:
a. Offshore funds – The Minister well knows that I was completely cleared by an independent inquiry which was established by Prime Minister Bainimarama and headed by reputable people from abroad. He is the one who delivered the report of the inquiry team to me at my home and later gave a media conference on the report clearing me of all charges.
However, in 2010 the Bainimarama/Khaiyum regime resurrected the case so as to prevent me from contesting the general elections. They were just too scared to confront me in a general election and resorted to dirty tricks to disqualify me from standing for elections.
b. Taxpayers money to “fix” private home
Once again the Minister deliberately distorts the issue. The Public Works Department did some work at my house as a security requirement for Prime Minister’s residence because I chose to live in my own house. The expenditure was approved by Parliament.
This is not something one can say for the huge salary that Aiyaz Khaiyum paid himself secretly through his Aunt Nur Bano’s accounting firm between 2010 and 2013. To this day there has been no disclosure of these secret payments despite calls from the Finance Ministry, the Auditor General’s Office and the Public Accounts Committee.
So who is being dishonest now with public funds? People who live in glass houses should not be throwing stones at others.
Also: Why isn’t Khaiyum saying anything about the millions of dollars of taxpayer’s money that is spent each year on his security detail – four cars involving the army and the Police when he is not even the prime minister? At least, I was the Prime Minister at the time.
4.Political gain?
I have always spoken out on national issues and on matters of concern to the people in the past 40 years whether its election time or not.
I have been outspoken on the economy and government finances at all times. Aiyaz Khaiyum well knows that I was the one who disclosed publicly the scandal regarding his and PM Bainimarama’s secret salaries paid by his Aunt Nur Bano’s firm – reportedly around $1m each per year between 2010 and 2013. They tried through the Information Ministry to get us to remove the story from our website but we refused to do so.
Finally, unlike Khaiyum’s failed record as Economy Minister, I have behind me a proven record of success. He cannot beat the record of the Labour Government after just one year in office.
I soundly managed the economy and government finances in that one year. Our undisputed growth rate of 9.6% remains unprecedented.
Finally, I stand by my challenge to Sayed-Khaiyum for a public debate. We can thrash out these issues in front of the entire nation.
