  |  Enter Stanley Ian Simpson, head of the Fiji Media Association, and 50% owner with New Methodist Church of Mai TV Fiji |
If Fiji’s Journalists Had Done Their Job, Biman Prasad Would Have Been Out of Parliament - and in Prison - Back in 2014
You can always count on Fiji’s media establishment to wake up years late and act surprised.
Overnight, two of the government’s three Deputy Prime Ministers have fallen, charged and out of Cabinet. And now, the same journalists who spent the last decade polishing their public images are wringing their hands in disbelief.
None more so than Stanley Ian Simpson, head of the Fiji Media Association and owner of Mai TV Fiji, who posted on Facebook about how "shocked and unvered" he was by the news of Biman Prasad’s arrest.
Shocked? Really? What exactly has he been smoking?
The Truth Hiding in Plain Sight
Let’s get real. Biman Prasad’s hands haven’t been clean for a long time.
Back in 2014, when he first declared his assets to the Fiji Elections Office under the Political Parties Act, he left out key information - information that any half-competent journalist could have uncovered with a $10 company search.
He didn’t declare his 5% shareholding in Lotus Construction (Fiji) Ltd, the company he co-founded with his cousin Sunil Chand. Later, he became a 50% shareholder. He didn’t declare his wife’s property in Suva. He didn't declare his wife got two villa units in exchange when the couple sold their Burerua property to Lotus (Fiji) Ltd. He didn’t declare the two villas he quietly bought through Lotus. And he certainly didn’t declare that Lotus paid his Capital Gains Tax, an undeclared benefit that reeks of corruption.
He did not declare his directorships in Lotus Construction (Fiji) Ltd, Lotus Tours & Transfers Ltd, and Platinum Hotels & Resorts Ltd. He didn't declare that a piece of land he bought for $60,000 in 2007 in Rakiraki, he gifted it to his NZ based son in 2021 for a nominal sum of $100, citing "for natural love and affection".
While the land, now worth over $400,000, lies idle with a derelict home on it, the Indo-Fijian community living in squatter settlements is crying out to be housed with their families.
In his resignation statement, he says he will have a little bit more time with family and friends and he will be able to connect more with the broader community as the Leader of the National Federation Party.
The false declarations in his statutory declarations are endless, from 2014 to 2024.
Those are not small mistakes. Those are deliberate falsehoods under oath. A breach of Section 24 of the Political Parties Act - a criminal offence.
If Fiji’s journalists had done their work in 2014, this man would never have qualified to contest an election, let alone become Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister.
The Media's Long Silence
But instead of investigating, they worshipped him.
The “academic economist.” The “honest reformer.” The “clean pair of hands.”
No one checked the company records. No one cross-referenced property titles. No one asked how a university lecturer could suddenly afford luxury villas. They just printed his speeches and moved on.
For years, the print and television journalists recycled his talking points about “transparency” while ignoring his own undeclared interests.
That’s not journalism - that’s malpractice.
The Grant That Explains Everything
And now we finally know why the head of Fiji’s media fraternity is so desperate to play down the story.
Mai TV Fiji, the station 50% owned by Stanley Simpson, quietly signed a deal with government last year to receive a Public Service Broadcast (PSB) grant, funded by the very same national budget tabled by Biman Prasad as Minister of Finance.
Yes, the same Biman Prasad who’s now facing criminal charges helped sign off on taxpayer money that ended up in the pockets of Fiji’s media operators, including the man who leads the Fiji Media Association.
So when Simpson goes on his Facebook to talk about “political turmoil” and to wonder why “a government is charging its own ministers,” he isn’t speaking as a journalist. He’s speaking as a man whose business depends on the goodwill of the same politicians now under investigation.
That’s not journalism. That’s conflict of interest, wrapped in hypocrisy and lit with a cigar.
The Real Scandal
The real scandal isn’t that Biman Prasad has finally been charged. It’s that it took eleven years for anyone to do it.
Eleven years of silence. Eleven years of cowardice. Eleven years of journalists looking the other way while pretending to be champions of free speech.
Where was the Fiji Media Association when all this was happening? Busy collecting government grants and hosting workshops on “ethics.” Where was Mai TV Fiji? Running government press releases and calling it “news.”
This isn’t a free press. It's a subsidised one.
And now, when the law finally catches up, the same people who failed to investigate are crying “political conspiracy.” Spare us.
A Lesson Long Overdue
Let’s be clear: this isn’t about politics. It’s about accountability.
If Biman Prasad lied about his declarations, he broke the law. It doesn’t matter if he’s NFP, PAP, or FijiFirst. The law applies the same way.
What’s happening now is not a “witch-hunt.” It’s justice, delayed, but not denied.
And if it’s making certain media figures nervous, maybe they should look in the mirror and ask themselves who they’ve been protecting all these years.
Fiji Doesn’t Need More Commentators. It Needs Reporters
So the next time Stanley Simpson posts about being “shocked” by a corruption charge, remember this: his company took government money under the same minister now in the dock.
Maybe that explains the smoke.
If the media had done its job back in 2014, Biman Prasad would have been nowhere near Parliament. He would have been facing the very charges he now confronts, years earlier, when it still mattered.
Instead, Fiji got a decade of self-righteous lectures on honesty from a man who couldn’t even file an honest declaration.
The watchdogs were asleep. The journalists were on payroll. And the man with the cigar was too busy defending the hand that bankrolled MaiTV Fiji.
You can always count on Fiji’s media establishment to wake up years late and act surprised.
Overnight, two of the government’s three Deputy Prime Ministers have fallen, charged and out of Cabinet. And now, the same journalists who spent the last decade polishing their public images are wringing their hands in disbelief.
None more so than Stanley Ian Simpson, head of the Fiji Media Association and owner of Mai TV Fiji, who posted on Facebook about how "shocked and unvered" he was by the news of Biman Prasad’s arrest.
Shocked? Really? What exactly has he been smoking?
The Truth Hiding in Plain Sight
Let’s get real. Biman Prasad’s hands haven’t been clean for a long time.
Back in 2014, when he first declared his assets to the Fiji Elections Office under the Political Parties Act, he left out key information - information that any half-competent journalist could have uncovered with a $10 company search.
He didn’t declare his 5% shareholding in Lotus Construction (Fiji) Ltd, the company he co-founded with his cousin Sunil Chand. Later, he became a 50% shareholder. He didn’t declare his wife’s property in Suva. He didn't declare his wife got two villa units in exchange when the couple sold their Burerua property to Lotus (Fiji) Ltd. He didn’t declare the two villas he quietly bought through Lotus. And he certainly didn’t declare that Lotus paid his Capital Gains Tax, an undeclared benefit that reeks of corruption.
He did not declare his directorships in Lotus Construction (Fiji) Ltd, Lotus Tours & Transfers Ltd, and Platinum Hotels & Resorts Ltd. He didn't declare that a piece of land he bought for $60,000 in 2007 in Rakiraki, he gifted it to his NZ based son in 2021 for a nominal sum of $100, citing "for natural love and affection".
While the land, now worth over $400,000, lies idle with a derelict home on it, the Indo-Fijian community living in squatter settlements is crying out to be housed with their families.
In his resignation statement, he says he will have a little bit more time with family and friends and he will be able to connect more with the broader community as the Leader of the National Federation Party.
The false declarations in his statutory declarations are endless, from 2014 to 2024.
Those are not small mistakes. Those are deliberate falsehoods under oath. A breach of Section 24 of the Political Parties Act - a criminal offence.
If Fiji’s journalists had done their work in 2014, this man would never have qualified to contest an election, let alone become Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister.
The Media's Long Silence
But instead of investigating, they worshipped him.
The “academic economist.” The “honest reformer.” The “clean pair of hands.”
No one checked the company records. No one cross-referenced property titles. No one asked how a university lecturer could suddenly afford luxury villas. They just printed his speeches and moved on.
For years, the print and television journalists recycled his talking points about “transparency” while ignoring his own undeclared interests.
That’s not journalism - that’s malpractice.
The Grant That Explains Everything
And now we finally know why the head of Fiji’s media fraternity is so desperate to play down the story.
Mai TV Fiji, the station 50% owned by Stanley Simpson, quietly signed a deal with government last year to receive a Public Service Broadcast (PSB) grant, funded by the very same national budget tabled by Biman Prasad as Minister of Finance.
Yes, the same Biman Prasad who’s now facing criminal charges helped sign off on taxpayer money that ended up in the pockets of Fiji’s media operators, including the man who leads the Fiji Media Association.
So when Simpson goes on his Facebook to talk about “political turmoil” and to wonder why “a government is charging its own ministers,” he isn’t speaking as a journalist. He’s speaking as a man whose business depends on the goodwill of the same politicians now under investigation.
That’s not journalism. That’s conflict of interest, wrapped in hypocrisy and lit with a cigar.
The Real Scandal
The real scandal isn’t that Biman Prasad has finally been charged. It’s that it took eleven years for anyone to do it.
Eleven years of silence. Eleven years of cowardice. Eleven years of journalists looking the other way while pretending to be champions of free speech.
Where was the Fiji Media Association when all this was happening? Busy collecting government grants and hosting workshops on “ethics.” Where was Mai TV Fiji? Running government press releases and calling it “news.”
This isn’t a free press. It's a subsidised one.
And now, when the law finally catches up, the same people who failed to investigate are crying “political conspiracy.” Spare us.
A Lesson Long Overdue
Let’s be clear: this isn’t about politics. It’s about accountability.
If Biman Prasad lied about his declarations, he broke the law. It doesn’t matter if he’s NFP, PAP, or FijiFirst. The law applies the same way.
What’s happening now is not a “witch-hunt.” It’s justice, delayed, but not denied.
And if it’s making certain media figures nervous, maybe they should look in the mirror and ask themselves who they’ve been protecting all these years.
Fiji Doesn’t Need More Commentators. It Needs Reporters
So the next time Stanley Simpson posts about being “shocked” by a corruption charge, remember this: his company took government money under the same minister now in the dock.
Maybe that explains the smoke.
If the media had done its job back in 2014, Biman Prasad would have been nowhere near Parliament. He would have been facing the very charges he now confronts, years earlier, when it still mattered.
Instead, Fiji got a decade of self-righteous lectures on honesty from a man who couldn’t even file an honest declaration.
The watchdogs were asleep. The journalists were on payroll. And the man with the cigar was too busy defending the hand that bankrolled MaiTV Fiji.
