PRIME Minister Sitiveni Rabuka says he will call for an investigation into the professional relationship shared by iTaukei Affairs Minister Ifereimi Vasu and business partner Jason Zhong if the matter is raised with him formally.
Mr Zhong has been convicted twice in the last 20 years for sex and drug trafficking. He is co-owner of a farming business with Mr Vasu.
Mr Rabuka’s comment comes after a report published this week by the international investigative journalism agency, Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), referred to a 2020 Fiji “police briefing” document they obtained, which included a profile of Mr Zhong.
He was profiled in the document as a possible member of “what officers suspected was a local organised crime group” the report said.
Mr Rabuka told this newspaper that he hasn’t received any report on this but if it does reach his office, he will “talk to him (Mr Vasu) first”.
OCCRP reported that three Fiji Police sources who spoke on condition of anonymity “due to concerns over their jobs and safety”, confirmed that the police briefing, which also profiled Yue Lai Hotel owner Fugang Zhao, was seen by former Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and former Commissioner of Police Sitiveni Qiliho in 2020.
“Although a free man, Zhong is currently facing separate charges filed by Fiji’s anti-corruption commission for allegedly bribing officials of the iTaukei Land Trust Board, the body responsible for issuing leases for land owned by Fiji’s traditional clans,” OCCRP reported.
“Despite this trouble, Zhong is both friends and business partners with the influential politician responsible for overseeing the land board, iTaukei Affairs Minister Ifereimi Vasu.
“In 2017, they established a ginger farming business outside of Suva, corporate records show. The two men have spoken publicly about their personal bond, and the farm was even promoted online by Fiji’s Agriculture Ministry in 2020, which extolled their journey “from friends to successful partners in business”.
OCCRP reported that Mr Vasu’s stake in the ginger farming business and in a second farm he also owned with Mr Zhong are “together worth 1.1 million Fijian dollars ($489,000 at current rates), according to a 2022 asset declaration filed with Fiji election authorities”.
OCCRP also reported that both Mr Vasu and Mr Zhong were “spotted together at Fiji’s main international airport on March 30 boarding a business class flight to Hong Kong, according to interviews and photographs obtained by reporters”.
“Zhong had obtained temporary court permission to travel abroad, Fiji’s anti-corruption commission confirmed to OCCRP, because he was still facing charges for the alleged bribes to the land board and was barred from leaving the country.
“In a brief exchange with OCCRP, Vasu confirmed the trip, saying that Zhong wanted to ‘commemorate the one-year burial of his dad in China’.”
OCCRP reported that Mr Vasu did not respond to detailed follow-up questions.
When contacted on Friday by The Fiji Times, Mr Vasu said he won’t be speaking any further on this.
