Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says he did not approve a 2017 bonus payment of $21,000 to Fijian Broadcasting Corporation (FBC) chief executive officer Riyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, who is his younger brother.
He made the comment in Parliament last Thursday after Opposition parliamentarians attacked the process that led to the bonus payment, and queried how FBC began reporting profits after Government grants to the broadcaster increased.
During debate on FBC’s consolidated 2016-2017 annual report, Opposition MP Ro Filipe Tuisawau asked how Riyaz Sayed-Khaiyum was assessed for the bonus.
Ro Filipe said the A-G had emailed FBC board chair Sashi Singh saying “bonus payment for chief executive officer, following consultations with the Prime Minister, bonus payment is granted for $21,000 to the CEO of FBC for the 2017 financial year”.
“So I am raising this, questioning the basis of that $21,000 payment to the CEO of FBC and I am wondering what process was followed and whether the profit of 2016-2017 could be considered as profit which are attributed to the performance of the CEO,” Ro Filipe said.
Ro Filipe said FBC had recorded consecutive losses from 2010 to 2015 amounting to $21.5 million, despite receiving Government grants totalling $16.4m.
But in 2016, he said, the Government grant increased from $2.9m the previous year to $9.2m – when FBC reported a profit of $4.08m.
“In 2017, the period we are discussing, that grant increased to $11.2m with a profit of $6.75m after income tax,” Ro Filipe said.
Ro Filipe said FBC’s 2017 annual report said grants and special funding from Government to March 7, 2016, were treated as capital contribution in accordance with a Cabinet decision.
He said the Cabinet decision of allowing grants to be used as profit was contrary to the Financial Management Act.
In reply, Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said he was responding as Minister for Public Enterprises, and that the Opposition made an issue out of FBC because the CEO was his brother.
“If tomorrow he drops dead or I drop dead, the whole issue at FBC will go away,” he said. “Even the issue about the bonuses, he knows that I did not approve it.
“The Minister for Public Enterprise, as per the Higher Salaries Act, with the concurrence of the Prime Minister has to approve the terms and conditions of salary paid to any CEO of any of the enterprises that is listed under that particular Act. “And any subsequent bonus also has to be approved.”
He said written recommendations would have come from the FBC board, which would be received by the Economy Ministry permanent secretary, which would then be taken to the Prime Minister for approval.
