Fiji Broadcasting Corporation chief executive officer Riyaz Sayed-Khaiyum today responded to recent allegations of his involvement with an individual who claimed to be the administrator of an anti-government page on Facebook.
Speaking to journalists, he said that the company was approached by a man who claimed to be one of the administrators of the “Fiji Exposed Forum” page on Facebook.
The man, who claimed to be a software engineer, claimed on social media that Mr Sayed-Khaiyum had offered a “spy camera” to retrieve videos of Opposition activities.
In response, Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said he had called a press conference so they could set the record straight.
“We don’t take kindly to people writing false information about our organisation,” he said.
He said such fake news shouldn’t be entertained.
He said the man claimed he was operating the anti-government page with a few other people from Lautoka.
He said the man further claimed that he was being paid by some politicians to put up anti-government posts.
However, Mr Sayed-Khaiyum admitted to meeting the man in February in front of senior staff from FBC and that they had given him a recording device upon request.
“He wanted a recording device, we are not in the business of giving people cameras,” Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said.
“The only recording device we had was a pen that had a camera in it.”
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said the man later approached him to state that the recording device was not working.
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said the matter has been reported to police.
Police spokeswoman Ana Naisoro couldn’t be reached for comments.
The man couldn’t be reached for comments as well when this edition was published online.
Earlier this evening, National Federation Party leader Prof. Biman Prasad denounced the claims by Mr Sayed-Khaiyum.
In a statement of response, Prof. Prasad said the allegations brought forward by the head of FBC were “false”.
He said Mr Sayed-Khaiyum would face “legal action on those statements”.
(Additional reporting by Timoci Vula)
