A $9.6million debt owed to Post Fiji Ltd by an unknown Australian-based business sits at the mercy table of the Government, as the company (Post Fiji) has requested for a write off.
This was revealed in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) review report of the Audit Reports on Public Enterprises and Other Entities for the audit year ending from 2019-2020 and 2021-2022 that was tabled in Parliament on Thursday.
In the report, PAC said: “Post Fiji wanted to exhaust all avenues of recovery and hired Truth Investigations, an Australian-based investigative company, to investigate the personal assets of the Director of Logistics Consultant International Pty Ltd namely a Mr Shaffe Khan.
“The national property ownership search failed to identify any properties owned in the name of Shaffe Khan.”
Post Fiji Ltd has made a request to Government to write off a debt of $9.6million that is owed by a company that has been wound up and its owner’s location is not known.
This is stated in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) review report of the Audit Reports on Public Enterprises and Other Entities for the audit year ending from 2019-2020 and 2021-2022 that was tabled in Parliament on Thursday.
PAC queried with Post Fiji what was the status of the $9.6m owed by Logistics Consultant International Pty Ltd that remained outstanding.
Post Fiji informed PAC that it had engaged legal firms, Commercial Litigation and Insolvency Lawyers (an Australian-based Law firm) and Sherani and Company (a local law firm) to pursue the legal case for the company in the recovery of the debts against Logistics Consultant International Pty Ltd.
“The findings of the investigation indicated that the debt recovery was not possible because Logistics Consultant International Pty Ltd had been voluntarily wound up and deregistered as a company,” Post Fiji informed PAC.
“Post Fiji wanted to exhaust all avenues of recovery and hired Truth Investigations, an Australian-based investigative company, to investigate the personal assets of the Director of Logistics Consultant International Pty Ltd namely a Mr Shaffe Khan.
“The national property ownership search failed to identify any properties owned in the name of Shaffe Khan.
“After exhausting all avenues for the recovery of the outstanding $9.6million, management had submitted a decision paper to the company board in a board meeting, dated 19th May, 2023, recommending that the board make a decision to write-off the debt.
“The Post Fiji Board has since consulted with the Ministry of Public Enterprise and is still awaiting a response until date.”
PAC noted the response from the management and recommends that this issue be further investigated because of the large amount of money involved.
“It is also recommended that this issue be resolved before 2025, including write-off recommendations to the Ministry of Finance,” said PAC.
