*FICAC must forensically establish if any Girmit related contracts were awarded to any of the sponsors
$5,000. Precision Pacific Construction Ltd is listed as having donated $5,000 towards the 2023 Girmit celebrations. |  |
 | ZAR LOGESTICS. The Ponga Professor's hastily prepared Excel Spreadsheet wrongly spelt the sponsor's company name. It is |  |
 $30,000. ZAR 'Logestics' donated $30,000 (SCC, $20,000 and MoF, $10,000). |  |
$5000. Vision Investments Limited is listed as having donated $5,000 towards the 2023 Girmit celebrations. Once again, we are not informed when and who received the $5,000.
*TUNNEL VISION: Biman Prasad must reveal which 'Vision' company donated $5,000 towards the 2023 Girmit celebrations - Vision Investments Limited or Vision Investment (Chunilals as Directors)
|  *Vision Investments Limited is a publicly listed company since February 2016 and is amongst one of the largest companies listed on the South Pacific Stock Exchange (SPX) with a market capitalisation of approximately $420 million. *Key institutional shareholders in VIL include Fiji National Provident Fund, International Finance Corporation, BSP Life (Fiji) Limited, Fijian Holdings Unit Trust, Unit Trust of Fiji and Na Hina Limited. |
*We notice that one of the key institutional shareholders in Vision Investments Limited is BSP LIFE (Fiji) Ltd. BSP is listed as having donated $20,000 towards the 2023 Global Girmit celebrations.
The Other 'Vision' Investment is managed by the CHUNILALS
*In the 2023 NFP donor list, one PRAVIN is listed as having donated $3 on 12 March 2023.
TOUR MANAGERS FIJI donated $7,500 towards 2023 Girmit celebration
*FICAC must forensically establish if any Girmit related contracts were awarded to any of the sponsors  |   |
Finance Minister Biman Prasad is lying to the nation when he says that his wife used to be a trustee of the Global Girmit Institute “many years ago” in response to the controversy over the allocation of $200,000 to the defunct and discredited organisation of which his wife and a political ally, Ganesh Chand, were trustees at the time.
“She was certainly one of the trustees of the GGI last year (February 2023) when it applied for re-registration along with Ganesh Chand and Hirdesh Sharma. We have documentation to prove this,” said Labour Leader Mahendra Chaudhry in response to a statement made by Minister Prasad on Fiji Village (14 May). (Refer doc below)
Interestingly, a search at the Registrar’s office shows the file on the GGI is now classified as “Protected”. It is no longer accessible to the public. The Registrar’s approval is required to access it. How does the Registrar justify this? Is he protecting the Finance Minister? Or is the file holding State secrets?
Minister Prasad is not only lying, he is trying to throw in all sorts of red herrings to cloud the issue. The facts of the case are as follows:
1 .Finance Minister Biman Prasad gave a $200,000 allocation to organise a Girmit conference to a discredited and defunct organisation which had been de-registered in 2022 for failing to submit financial accounts and annual returns since its registration in 2017
2. In February 2023 GGI applied for re-registration. At the time of application, his wife Rajni Kaushal Chand, Ganesh Chand and Hirdesh Sharma were listed as trustees of the organisation. This is hardly “many years ago”, Mr Prasad!
3. Re-registration was granted within a record 24 hours of the application being launched and in spite of the fact there is no provision in Fiji’s laws for the re-registration of a charitable organisation once it had been deregistered. The re-registration was, therefore, unlawful.
4. The proper procedure would have been for the Finance Ministry to call for expressions of interest from organisations interested in organising the Girmit conference. This was not done.
5. University of the South Pacific or one of our other two universities would have been quite capable of organising an international conference of the nature envisaged. But the Minister chose a defunct and discredited organisation of which his wife was a trustee, for the grant.
Minister Prasad says the Solicitor General had approved the grant to GGI – all they required is that the “organisation is registered”, he added.
“This makes the Solicitor General party to an unlawful act. He should have carried out due diligence on the organisation before allowing such a large sum of public money to be entrusted to it.
Particularly as the GGI was de-registered, thus discredited, for failing to provide audited financial accounts. He also failed in his fiduciary duty to find out how the GGI managed to obtain re-registration in breach of our laws.
“No amount of mudslinging and counter-accusations by Biman Prasad will absolve him of the charge of nepotism and cronyism.
“The requirements of accountability and transparency demand that he provide audited accounts for the $500,000 allocated for the 2023 celebrations. He must provide a detailed breakdown of all categories of expenses he has listed. A generalised list is not acceptable,” Mr Chaudhry said.
* Document below: Submission from GGI for re-registration on 22 February 2023 shows his wife listed as one of the trustees of the Institute.
“She was certainly one of the trustees of the GGI last year (February 2023) when it applied for re-registration along with Ganesh Chand and Hirdesh Sharma. We have documentation to prove this,” said Labour Leader Mahendra Chaudhry in response to a statement made by Minister Prasad on Fiji Village (14 May). (Refer doc below)
Interestingly, a search at the Registrar’s office shows the file on the GGI is now classified as “Protected”. It is no longer accessible to the public. The Registrar’s approval is required to access it. How does the Registrar justify this? Is he protecting the Finance Minister? Or is the file holding State secrets?
Minister Prasad is not only lying, he is trying to throw in all sorts of red herrings to cloud the issue. The facts of the case are as follows:
1 .Finance Minister Biman Prasad gave a $200,000 allocation to organise a Girmit conference to a discredited and defunct organisation which had been de-registered in 2022 for failing to submit financial accounts and annual returns since its registration in 2017
2. In February 2023 GGI applied for re-registration. At the time of application, his wife Rajni Kaushal Chand, Ganesh Chand and Hirdesh Sharma were listed as trustees of the organisation. This is hardly “many years ago”, Mr Prasad!
3. Re-registration was granted within a record 24 hours of the application being launched and in spite of the fact there is no provision in Fiji’s laws for the re-registration of a charitable organisation once it had been deregistered. The re-registration was, therefore, unlawful.
4. The proper procedure would have been for the Finance Ministry to call for expressions of interest from organisations interested in organising the Girmit conference. This was not done.
5. University of the South Pacific or one of our other two universities would have been quite capable of organising an international conference of the nature envisaged. But the Minister chose a defunct and discredited organisation of which his wife was a trustee, for the grant.
Minister Prasad says the Solicitor General had approved the grant to GGI – all they required is that the “organisation is registered”, he added.
“This makes the Solicitor General party to an unlawful act. He should have carried out due diligence on the organisation before allowing such a large sum of public money to be entrusted to it.
Particularly as the GGI was de-registered, thus discredited, for failing to provide audited financial accounts. He also failed in his fiduciary duty to find out how the GGI managed to obtain re-registration in breach of our laws.
“No amount of mudslinging and counter-accusations by Biman Prasad will absolve him of the charge of nepotism and cronyism.
“The requirements of accountability and transparency demand that he provide audited accounts for the $500,000 allocated for the 2023 celebrations. He must provide a detailed breakdown of all categories of expenses he has listed. A generalised list is not acceptable,” Mr Chaudhry said.
* Document below: Submission from GGI for re-registration on 22 February 2023 shows his wife listed as one of the trustees of the Institute.
