Fijian Holdings acting Managing Director, Mariana Saumadu, says the additional $5million paid out by FHL to extend settlement date with BP Oil to end of June was made by Isoa Kaloumaira, Colonel Aziz Mohammed and Sereana Qoro without proper board approval.
Mariana admitted that a US$10 million non-refundable deposit was paid by FHL to BP Oil during the signing of their sale and purchase agreement.
However, demands from BP Oil that FHL pay them an extra $5million non-refundable deposit was not discussed with the rest of the board members.
She said no flying minutes or an extraordinary board meeting was called to rectify the matter and instead, Kaloumaira, Aziz and Sereana decided between themselves to sign and hand-over the $5million cheque after they realised they were caught between a rock and a hard place.
She went on to say that other board directors only got to learn of the additional $5million payment from blogs and later, the mainstream media.
