Grace Road president “Daniel” Jung Yong Kim is in immigration custody as authorities await legal proceedings to challenge a court order that prohibits his removal from the country, along with three other Grace Road members.
These are: Beomseop Shin, Byeongjoon Lee and Jinsook Yoon.
Speaking to The Fiji Times yesterday, Minister for Home Affairs and Immigration Pio Tikoduadua said the intention was not to hold Mr Kim “forever”.
When asked whether there was a given time frame as to how long they could keep him in immigration custody, Mr Tikoduadua said there wasn’t as far as he was concerned.
“He is a prohibited immigrant, and the intention is not to really hold him forever because the order is there for him to be moved from Fiji,” he said.
“The only thing that is stopping us from doing that is the court order that is there, but we are challenging that in court. Hopefully, we can deal with that sooner rather than later.
“There is one other person that is out there, still at large. There are two others that we cannot touch right now. But hopefully, we do not have to hold him for too long given this understanding that there’s already an order for his removal. The courts will not allow us to do that right now.”
An INTERPOL Red Notice is out for Mr Kim and other senior members of Grace Road.
On Thursday, the High Court in Lautoka also issued orders to the Fiji Police Force and the Immigration Department not to remove four members of Grace Road from Fiji.
The interim injunction also restrains the Director of Immigration, Commissioner of Police, Airports Fiji Ltd, Civil Aviation Authority of Fiji, Fiji Airways and Air Terminal Services from removing these four from Fiji.
The matter was adjourned to September 18 for hearing.
