EVERYTHING is positive, says Fiji National Rugby League chairman Rajesh Singh after a meeting was held with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the National Rugby League of Australia yesterday.
The meeting was held virtually following the FNRL’s Annual General Meeting last Saturday, where the organisation’s annual report, prepared by Australian accounting and consultancy firm Pherrus, revealed what it stated were “major financial concerns”.
In the report, it detailed unpaid amounts owed to the Fiji National Provident Fund, the Fiji Revenue and Customs Service, travel company Stage and Screen Travel, Catapult Sports Pty Ltd, Firefly Car Rentals and an unexplained usage of funds for overseas sporting trips of the Fiji Bulikula women and the Vusu Raiders.
Singh told Times Sport yesterday’s two-hour meeting had progressed well in the preliminary stages while adding that more details would be made available later.
“One thing I can say is that yes, everything is very positive,” Singh explained.
“It was a very good meeting today, a very fruitful meeting and I think this will be a game changer for rugby league in Fiji for the next 10 years.”
Meanwhile, following that “fruitful” meeting, Singh said the development of primary and secondary schools rugby league remained a priority, along with an added emphasis of developing club and provincial competitions.
However, Singh acknowledged the Australians were aware of what had been stated in the annual report and he said they emphasised on the importance of having strong leadership, strong board, scope, financial policies, structure and staffing.
And with the Pherrus report showing what he described as “loopholes”, Singh said taking this in stride in cleansing the slate at FNRL was of the essence.
He stated that when asked if there were concerns raised about the FNRL’s finances prior to his appointment as chairman, emphasising the need to have checks and balances strengthened.
“That’s where we can see a lot of loopholes and it’s good (that) when we got this Pherrus report, now we understand that’s where the weakness was and then we just need to improve from here and move forward,” he emphasised.
Singh revealed this was something brought up in the virtual meeting yesterday along with possessing the qualities of strong leadership, good staffing, moving forward with good governance, accountability and transparency in mind.
