Ilaisa Cavu earmarked for another top job

Outrigger Hotel ex Food and Beverage Manager, Ilaisa Cavu, a well known coup apologist, is said to be in the running for a Permanent Secretary’s job.

This Ono lad has been lobbied by his anties Jiko, who is the interim Minister for Health and FLP stalwart, Jokapeci Koroi, both from Ono-i-Lau. Between them, these three were able to co-op support from key people to declare Ono-i-Lau as a military junta supporter, eventhough majority of the people from Ono seem to support Anare Jale, a son of Ono who was forcefully removed from his PSC Permanent Secretary position by the military government.

Bovoro unlikely to get his FDB job back

FDB boss, Tukana Bovoro, is said to have requested a pay-out package from his Board as he is no longer interested in the job.

It is believed that the Board has put him under notice for interfering with orders directed to the FDB Board by its line Minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, to increase their loan portfolio to the agro-based sector, mostly sugar related, to about 60% of their total lending and to reduce their commercial loan to only 40%.

Sources say that Bovoro is also unpopular to the military-appointed FDB Board for his part in allowing certain unbankable loan proposal to access FDB money, a case in point being Ballu Khan’s Pacific Connex loan which many say was pushed to the then SDL appointed Board by Qarase himself. This loan proposal was a matter of heated debate by the then FDB Board members resulting in the resignation of one of their fellow Director, Ernst and Young Partner, Mr Pickering.

Another interesting person has appeared to the fore as one who is in an all out assault to remove Bovoro. FDB’s ex chairperson, Sereana Qoro, is exerting her influence as one of the junta/military cell trusted informants in the affairs of FDB. She had a falling out with Bovoro when she was removed as FDB Chair and is now on a revenge mode by praying over a dagger ready to plunge onto Bovoro’s back.

 

Expect a hike in corporate tax

Businesses in Fiji are expected to declare negative profits by adopting some creative accounting techniques when Frank and Chaudhry announce their 40% corporate tax hurdle rate soon.

Fiji’s anti-business military regime is continuing its quest in attacking the business community in Fiji. Their belief is to get away with the old and come in with the new.

How? By slapping the established businesses with the soon to be imposed 40% corporate tax, while their new Asian and Middle Eastern investor friends will be given very attractive incentives, specific to their projects only, meaning that these incentives will not apply to other investors.

As far as Chaudhry is concerned, current business houses in Fiji are all crooks and stealing from the poor to get rich. Or to put it more frankly, he wants to diffuse the Gujarati influence as Fiji’s economic power base and to shift it to “others” which does not include indigenous Fijians.

It was not an accident when Frank referred to his Finance man as “Fiji’s Robin Hood”. Frank’s unrehearsed response during that TV interview only serve to confirm the type of advice Frank is getting from his money man i.e it is time to hit the corporate sector with all sorts of taxes, not so much to give to the poor, but more to frustrate existing businesses with an increase in their corporate tax from 31% to 40% and to pave the way for the establishment of their new tax-free business partners who are now beginning to surface one by one.

Junta will remove Batley one way or other

Sources say the next deportation target by Fiji’s junta is Batley, Australian High Commissioner to Fiji. But his deportation will not be the same as that dished out to ex New Zealand High Commissioner and top Fiji newspapers executives, Evan and Hunter.

Everybody knows that death threats delivered to the High Commission is eminating from the military regime eventhough Fiji Police are claiming that they have suspects to the case.

It is understood that Canberra had instructed Batley to return to Australia in last Saturday’s Sydney flight and sources say that he will be asked whether he wishes to return to Fiji to serve out his term or otherwise. If Batley decides not to return to Fiji, then Australia will follow New Zealand by not appointing a replacement to their Fiji High Commission office but instead will downgrade the High Commissioner’s role to an acting one by their First Secretary, Andrew Martin.This will be a sign of a diplomatic boycott by Australia which will again be taken very seriously by the international community.

 

 

Why the double standard, Australia?

One of the new military appointed Director of Fijian Holdings Limited, Mr Padam Lala, is believed to be in Australia for business and leisure with his family.

Is Australia for real with their travel bans on coup sympathizers like Padam Lala?

While Australia is quick to place a blanket visa ban on innocent hard working Fiji citizens who wish to participate in their Pacific Islands seasonal fruit picking and other hard labour programs in the outbacks of Australia, the Australian government’s laxity in applying travel bans on those who are directly supporting Fiji’s junta is totally unacceptable.

Come on Rudd! Get your act right and stop punishing innocent Fiji citizens. Throw Padam Lala and his clan out of your country if you want the Fiji people to believe in you! Or are you just full of talk as shown by your resounding by-election defeat?

Priest Mataca a cunning fox

History will tell you that church priests play a pivotal role in every nations political backdrop. Fiji is no different. Just watch how the so called “servants of god” in the little coup infested paradise are behaving.

The most obvious one apart from some Methodist Church priests is Archbishop Mataca. Frank is the puppet and his high priest Mataca is the puppeteer in collaboration with Mahendra Chaudhry. After all, it was Mataca who organised Frank’s recent meeting with the Pope in Rome while Chaudhry provided the funding to get Frank there using Fiji’s taxpayers money.

Now, to get someone to meet the Pope, one has to go through a strict protocol. You see, the Pope doesn’t see just about any Tom, Dick and Harry. Infact, the referrer (Mataca) must give good reasons why the Pope should meet the person and must build a strong argument with substantive evidence that the proposed visitor is doing things in line with their “global (violent and forceful) outreach program”.

And some quite remarkable and convincing reasons were scribed by Mataca in his correspondence.

He wrote that Frank, a converted Catholic through his wife Mary, is the vehicle used by the church to accelerate awareness and recruitment in Fiji. He said that Fiji being the centre of the Pacific is key to spreading the church in the Pacific region. 

Frank was a perfect fit. And to prove his point even further to his superior, Mataca told them that his boy will be in power for a long time and that all detractors have been either tamed or made redundant.

Mataca went as far as requesting further funds from the Pontiff to continue their underground pro-Fiji coup programs that will support their superiority drive in Fiji and the Pacific given that the international aid donor community are holding back development funds which is crippling Fiji’s economy.

Fiji Constitution to be abrograted before year end 2008

Reliable sources have confirmed that Interim Prime Minister, Voreqe Bainimarama and his chief legal advisors made up of the Shameem sisters, Interim Attorney General Aiyaz Khaiyum, Chief of Staff Aziz Mohammed, Acting CJ Anthony Gates, Judge Pathik, lawyer CP Lala, Ba lawyer Sahu-Khan, Judge Mataitoga and others have set a deadline to abrogate the 1997 Fiji Constitution in the last quarter of 2008. While the actual date has not been revealed, these sources confirmed that it will happen anytime between Oct 1 – Dec 31st, 2008.

These sources said Bainimarama’s recent withdrawal from the Forum Joint Working Group amongst other things were to be expected as Bainimarama, his Interim Ministers, cronies and supporters are already categorised as serial liars who do not honor their promises.

They said that more than a dozen major announcements will be made by the junta before the abrogation of the constitution happens. These announcements will range from Bainimarama’s yes-men GCC list, the consolidation of all Fijian-related institutions into one entity under some well known pro-military regime Fijian executives,the merging of some quasi-government owned development and commercial entities, the release of free funds to the tune of $25,000+ per family to sugar-cane farmers to lure them back to Vanua Levu, the indefinite deferment of the general election and court judgment on the much awaited Laisenia Qarase’s case against the interim regime, just to name a few.