FIJI Pine Trust chairman Taniela Nakibo has called on members of the Vanua Levu Landowners Association to “stop the manipulation, misrepresentation and incorrect information”.
He said this in response to the association’s president Tevita Raiova who along with other landowners wrote a letter to the Minister for Forestry Kalaveti Ravu asking for an investigation into the Fiji Pine group of companies.
Mr Nakibo said the Trust was the legal representative of pine landowners and not the association.
“We represent the landowners that have leased their land to Fiji Pine Limited and serve justice to them, not these associations,” he said.
“Please, we urge these manipulators to put away with politics and stop spreading misinformation for your self-serving interests.
“Fiji Pine Ltd has been transformed from a bankrupt company ruined by corruption, abuse and mismanagement and further became insolvent in 2007,” he said.
Mr Nakibo said the company was turned around through continuous reforms which benefitted landowners.
“We also gather that due to politics, landowners were deprived of receiving their returns from the 1990s until 2000. We do not want politics in the pine industry. This industry is all about the landowners and we continue to do positively for our landowners, unprecedented levels of landowner engagement.
“We noted the positivity being put into our company’s Facebook, and we do not want politics to ruin the good work of the board of directors, CEO and employees.” Mr Nakibo said they were “making unprecedented profits and giving returns to the landowners”.
