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THE LATE SUNDIP PATEL: The Man and the Image - A Very Personal Reflection by Russell Hunter, former editor-in-chief and CEO, Fiji Sun

31/12/2014

8 Comments

 
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The late Sundip Patel

"Less well known is the fact that Sundip allowed the company to spend close to $130,000 on pursuing the illegal regime for its criminal act in deporting me" - Russell Hunter

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By RUSSELL HUNTER

History in all likelihood will not be too kind to Sundip Patel. And that’s unfortunate for while he lived up to every inch of his public persona as the ruthless businessman, he had a compassionate and caring private side.

And a wicked sense of humour.

I knew him as, at first, editor-in-chief of the Fiji Sun and later as chief executive officer. Sundip was the managing director and majority owner.

I have never denied the many claims from many sources that he interfered with editorial content and direction. But now I will.

Even when Victor Lal and I were pursuing the story of Mahendra Chaudhry’s secret overseas stash of cash – remember Chaudhry was finance minister in the Bainimarama regime at the time – he never commented, interfered or even asked for our sources. Of course he would have known we would not have given them but lesser businessmen would not have been able to stop themselves from using whatever means was at their disposal to discover them.

Sundip did not, nor did he flinch in the face of threats (never acted upon) by Chaudhry.

However, it was known to me that he was under fierce regime pressure to alter the editorial tone of the Sun which at the time leaned heavily towards an anti-Bainimarama, anti-coup line. In fact he had been told by senior regime figures that he’d get rid of me if he knew what was good for him.

Not wishing to hold the company back, (having been at least instrumental in its dramatic revival after a near-death experience) I three times offered to resign. Sundip brushed the suggestions aside.

In fact after I was illegally deported from Fiji by the regime in February 2008, I carried on as CEO of the Sun working from Australia until, a year later, he finally was swayed by the promise of government gold in return for a Fiji Sun in its present lap dog role.

It was all just money to Sundip.

He appointed a vastly more pliable person as my deputy general manager though it was clear to me what the real purpose was. I resigned and have never regretted it.

All this is well enough known. Less well known is the fact that Sundip allowed the company to spend close to $130,000 on pursuing the illegal regime for its criminal act in deporting me. But it soon became clear that even if we could win a case in the Bainimarama court, any judgement – just like the high court order prohibiting my removal  - would simply be ignored.

He was also under pressure from the Gujerati community in Fiji, who saw opportunities under Bainimarama, to come round. Eventually he did and made a lot of money in the process.

As always, perhaps, the man is more complex than the image.

He spent at least half of his life in aircraft as he expanded into Australia, PNG, India, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Samoa.

Sundip would berate me for my cigar smoking habit – and bring me back a box of Havanas from several of his many travels.

He would complain about staff – and send at least one abroad for health treatment when it was needed.

It would be an error to rush to judgment on Sundip Patel – whether that judgment be for or against.

Fijileaks Editor: The Fiji Sun had come so close to folding up (death) - Sundip Patel had lost about $6m on it before Hunter arrived - he (Sundip) was, therefore, so glad to see it in profit and didn't want to interfere with the paper's editorial content. However, the Gujerati connection was relevant to him. He used this connection to persuade Victor Lal (through a wealthy Suva Gujerati businessman relative of Lal) to return to Fiji Sun as a columnist to boost the paper's circulation. Lal wrote hundreds of columns, many highly critical of SDL policies, anti-military coup articles, and on many other topics, free of payment. But Sundip just about exclusively socialised with the Gujerati business community who would have pressurised him to do as he did with the post-Hunter Fiji Sun, for they acted as a group and risked being treated by Bainimarama as one. Fijileaks thinks Sundip was keen to see Chaudhry brought down, for he saw him as anti-business. And we are sure he was the driver of the Fiji Sun's new lapdog policy. But he had stood by Victor Lal despite death threats from
Lieutenant-Colonel Sitiveni Qiliho (now Land Force Commander) to Russell Hunter and Lal, and even the possibility of Fiji Sun being fire-bombed out of existence if the paper continued to reveal Chaudhry's tax details. He also stood firm against the legal writs slammed against Lal and Fiji Sun by FIRCA. In the end he breathed a sigh of relief and was elated when Lal's tax evidence against Chaudhry and the secret $2million revelation won Fiji Sun the Best Paper of the Year Award, with Lal and Hunter co-sharing the Robert Keith-Reid Award for Outstanding Journalism in 2008. In a cruel twist of irony, both Lal and Hunter were not able to attend Sundip's funeral in Fiji for after the Chaudhry tax story, both were declared prohibited persons from entering Bainimarama/Khaiyum's Fiji. Sundip had no restrictions placed against him, for Fiji Sun had become a pro-regime newspaper by 2009. RIP.

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The late Sundip Patel and Bainimarama in Suva early this year; after 2008 he allowed Fiji Sun to pursue a lapdog policy for regime
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Dear Editor
Russel Hunter's comments on and attempt to be fair to Sundip Patel are interesting and raise many more questions about the role of the Fiji Sun after he left as publisher. May I point out however that Russel is incorrect in generalizing that "He (Sundip) was also under pressure from the Gujerati community in Fiji, who saw opportunities under Bainimarama, to come round." Most of the Gujarati community are not business persons, as the stereotypes would have it. No doubt there may have been some prominent business persons putting pressure on him, including some prominent Gujerati ones we all know about. Your comment, editor, also makes this incorrect generalization which harmfully fuels the racism in Fiji against Gujerati by some Indo-Fijians who are descended from the girmitiya. Professor Wadan Narsey

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Dear Editor
I'll just this once break my rule of not responding but Wadan Narsey (one of the non-businessperson Gujeratis he refers to) does make a valid point. It doesn't, however, alter the fact that the Gujerati business community wanted the Sun to take a pro-regime line. Russell Hunter


8 Comments
Of hypocrites and psychopaths
31/12/2014 07:47:28 pm

Nobody is perfect, let alone journalists using their positions for their own political agendas and vendettas, as we in this country are well aware.

Sundip Patel was doing what businessmen do, but he had more heart than most of his kin, as Russell has attested.

Fiji Times was sidling up to Qarase Govt and contributing to its Duavata fund, partly to facilitate the extension of an expatriate employee's contract.

Then we have Rajen Chaudhry saying Sundip was self-serving. rajen is gloating over his passing.

Well, sandip wasn't as self-serving as rajen's daddy, mahen, who for decades masqueraded as 'Mr Clean' and 'People's Champion', then proceeded to siphon of millions of dollars raised in the name of the poor (Thank you yet again Vic and Russell for exposing the Chaudhry con).

The same Chaudhry used taxpayer funds to renovate his private property, with intentions to build a home gym for bodybuilding sons rajen and Sachin.

rajen's lack of self-awareness is breathtaking. Clearly it's in the family genes. daddy shows same trait. daddy has developed amnesia over the fundraising scam and continues to pontificate as if nothing happened.

Both rajen and mahen are clearly psychopathic.

For a family leeching of taxpayers and farmers and poor Indo-Fijians, it's a bit rich of Rajen to describe Sandip as self-serving.

Rajen needs to look in the mirror. His own baap, mahen, is the bapu of self-serving!



No that's self-serving!

That is the money the unemployable Rajen chaudhry is living on in Australia.



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Nat Matai
1/1/2015 03:00:12 am

Rajendra, like Victor Lal, is a straight shooter and this seems to piss off a lot of people.

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Canada Boy
31/12/2014 10:23:13 pm

May his soul rest in peace
Could his this be a lesson in staying within ones ethical boundaries and not compromising truth and honesty in exchange for monetary aspects in life
Did he pay a price in the court of God for supporting illegal regime and ultimately paying through his early demise?
Everyone should reflect on this and always chase honesty and truth no matter how hard or how long this takes

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Tom
31/12/2014 10:50:47 pm

Prof Narsey is mistaken on 2 counts. One, non gujerati indo fijians cannot be racist against Gujeratis since they all belong to the same race, Indians. Secondly, the gujerati community have isolated themselves from the rest of the indian community and their attitude towards other indians in Fiji isnt exactly inclusive. So they are just as 'racist' to use his phrase, against other Indians in Fiji

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Parasite
1/1/2015 01:47:51 am

'Of hypocrites and psychopaths' is correct. Rajend Chaudhry is the last person to critcise Sundip Patel. As an adult, Rajen can't even support himself financially. He is still sucking on daddy's tits and living off daddy's ill-begotten wealth in Sydney. I am talking about millions raised in the name of the poor.

While the parasitic Chaudhry's have been leeching off farmers and FLP supporters, CJ Patel employs thousands of people and pays millions in taxes. Sundip, through hard work and acumen, expanded the family business while the unemployable Rajen sits on his fat backside and defames people, including the dead.

Instead of building, rajen and his daddy drove FLP to the ground and destroyed the legacy set by Bavadra and others.

RC is a waste of space!

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A family vendetta
1/1/2015 03:33:49 am

Rajend Chaudhry is conducting a personal vendetta against government for his father's sacking as finance minister and court conviction. What really stung and angered the Chaudhry family was the $1million fine, even though it was money raised in FLP supporters' name and pocketed by the Chaudhry family, as documented by Victor Lal, aka Fiji's Sherlock Holmes.

Rajen is trying to hurt and exact revenge from the Bainimarama Government by any means possible, lashing out at everyone and everything. He is even associating with racists and allowing anti-Indian comments on his blog. His is trying to start a racial and religious war — anything to topple this government.

He has developed a hatred for Indians for not voting for his father's FLP party. It's beyond the psychotic chaudhry family, including Rajen, to understand that his father had hoodwinked voters and used his position to line his pockets and feather his nest. Typical of their narcissist thinking, the chaudhry's believe mahen was god's gift to Fiji. But Indians see him as nothing but a petty crook.

For all of Rajen's rantings against the government, we should never forget that Mahen Chaudhry aided and abetted the 2006 coup. He supported Bainimarama to thwart investigations into the fundraising scam. He used the regime apparatus to get Russell Hunter expelled from the country for exposing the truth, with threats made to Victor Lal's life.

We do not like this government, but we are not fooled by Rajen: his so-called support for democracy is as false as his parasitic father's so-called advocacy for the poor and downtrodden.

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Fiji ke Robin Hood my arse
2/1/2015 02:44:37 am

'A Family Vendetta' is right on the mark, but to say that Mahen Chaudhry is a petty crook is an understatement. He made millions from the fundraising, so he is in a league of his own!

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Yep
3/1/2015 04:54:18 pm

Russell is right. Warden is WRONG!
It has ALWAYS been the case with the Gujerati community in Fiji that they throw their support behind whoever is in power and calling the shots so that they can continue to advanced their own selfish economic interest regardless of what shit is happening on the political front.So it is a fact that the Gujerati gang gravitated to prop up the dictator of Fiji once it became apparent that he was going to hold power in the country. The Gujerati gang know well which side their bread is gheed . It is not on the side of the democratic opposition and making noise about human rights, civil rights and political freedoms etc.

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