THE Nadi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI) has a new interim president. Former Nadi Town Council chief executive officer Lawrence Kumar was voted to lead the chamber for the next six months during a special general meeting in Nadi on Thursday night amidst financial woes and allegations of financial mismanagement.
Mr Kumar said with the appointment of new board members and vice presidents, they hoped to take the Chamber towards a different path.
“Over the period of the last 15 to 16 years, one thing I have noticed is that members have moved away from the organisation and one of the reasons is that we have not had a change in the leadership for a very long time,” Mr Kumar said.
“We have not really evolved, and the chamber seems to have done the same thing over and over again.
“The financial issue that the Chamber has, which is out in the public, cannot be debated on.
“We have had financial mismanagement and that is something that we will be addressing.”
Mr Kumar said a forensic audit of the Chamber’s accounts would be carried out by the new office bearers.
“The first thing we need to do is do a forensic audit and sit down with our treasurer and see where the financial mismanagement was done and by whom.
“Once we have done that then we will be able to refer it to the respective authority which is the Fiji Police and if it is a matter of corruption then we will go to FICAC (Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption).”
Ousted president Dr Ram Raju, against whom allegations of financial mismanagement have been directed this week, said he has sought legal advice on the allegations and will file a legal challenge against the claims made by NCCI interim secretary Shalendra Prasad.
Note: This article was first published on the print version of the Fiji Times dated June 14, 2025
