The Grace Road Group is entering the tourism industry and expanding its existing businesses with a planned investment of $140million in the next three years.
GRG president Daniel Kim said this during an interview with The Fiji Times on Wednesday, while dismissing claims that the 400 members of the organisation were being kept in Fiji against their will.
“We have five projects in the pipeline — there’s a $40million project this year and in around three years’ time, we have another $100m project in the pipeline,” Mr Kim said.
“We have a five-year plan and that includes a shopping centre, a hotel development and a farm development.”
Mr Kim said he did not respond to media enquiries earlier about members of the group being detained and forced to work in Fiji under harsh conditions.
“Right now, as we are speaking, I have Korean members working in 35 restaurants, 15 farms, 10 supermarkets and seven service stations.
“They all have their passports — if they want to go, they can go, and if they want to stay, they can stay.
“How can I detain all these people or hold them against their will. We employ 700 locals, they work alongside the Korean members — are they foolish and blind that they don’t say anything about keeping people imprisoned?
“We were so busy on these developments that when the allegations came through, we thought that it would just go away.
“Sometimes it’s not worth responding but it’s also our fault because we never disputed the allegations and claims — they keep growing like a tree.”
