“I am accountable to the Prime Minister, Cabinet, and taxpayers of Fiji, not to politicians who insult the girmitiya and their descendants,” says Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Professor Biman Prasad.
He was responding to accusations by the Leader of the Opposition Inia Seruiratu and Fiji Labour Party Leader Mahendra Chaudhry of giving $200,000 to Global Girmit Institute.
Professor Prasad, who is also the leader of the National Federation Party, said it was clear that detractors of the Coalition Government were resorting to “gutter politics” because they could not digest the resounding success of the Girmit Day commemoration including the international Girmit Conference.
He said money was given to the Global Girmit Institute not as a payout, but as a grant specifically for the conference, under an agreement vetted by the Solicitor-General’s Office.
Prof Prasad said Mr Seruiratu and Mr Chaudhry had claimed Professor Prasad paid the money because his wife Dr Rajni Chand was a trustee of Global Girmit Institute.
He said Mr Seruiratu even accused him of giving the money to his wife.
“This is lunacy,” Mr Prasad said.
“If the Ministry of Finance releases a grant to USP where Dr Rajni Chand is employed, does it mean that I am giving money to her and not to USP?”
The Deputy Prime Minister said the claims were similar to the attacks directed at him over the $360,000 estimated budget of the National Economic Summit.
“After I publicly revealed that the total cost of the two-day summit of over 500 delegates was around $281,000 and that taxpayers paid only $111,000 of this amount because $170,000 was secured through sponsorship, the criticism ended.
Mr Prasad said Mr Chaudhry was only good at nit-picking.
“Just like the expenditure for the National Economic Summit, the people of Fiji will soon know how much the girmit commemoration cost the taxpayers, including accountability for the international conference,” he said.
