“I was investigated by the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC), interviewed numerous times and had my home and offices searched unannounced.”
Former Fiji Sugar Corporation executive chairman and CEO Abdul Khan said this in response to comments by Sugar Minister Charan Jeath Singh earlier this month that he was resubmitting for another probe by FICAC into the 2016 investigation for alleged abuse of office during Mr Khan’s tenure as CEO of FSC and executive chairman.
Mr Singh lambasted FICAC for taking more than three years to complete an investigation pertaining to Mr Khan’s alleged abuse of office and corruption during his tenure as executive chairman and CEO from 2011 to 2016.
Mr Singh has also said the FSC had provided evidence against Mr Khan to FICAC two years ago but the file had “disappeared”.
“Mr Singh has wrongly publicly stated that I have not been investigated by FICAC and that FICAC has lost the files,” Mr Khan said, speaking to The Fiji Times from New Zealand.
“I have been investigated on more than one occasion by FICAC which involved being interviewed on numerous times, my offices and home being searched unannounced and also having a number of telephone conversations.
“The investigations were based on information provided by Mr (Mahendra) Chaudhry to the Prime Minister’s Office which the permanent secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office (Yogesh Karan) forwarded to FICAC and also on various information in files that FICAC had collected from FSC.
“Further investigations followed after the then Prime Minister and Minister for Sugar (Voreqe Bainimarama) announced in Parliament that I was to be investigated.
“My legal advisors have put on notice, Mr Singh, other individuals, media outlets including social media and institutions that any further comments against me and the then directors will result in legal proceedings through the appropriate courts.”
