USP Vice Chancellor Gets off "Tax-Free"

Tax evasion is all the rage at the moment.

 

While Mahendra Chaudhry has done very well by accumulating $1.6 m in 3 overseas bank accounts, there are others who seem to have been getting by quite comfortably too.

 

But a first a look at Chaudhrygate scandal. With everyone clamouring over unpaid taxes and FIRCA files, a number of even more important aspects seem to have been overlooked.

 

Where did the money come from?

 

Where did the interest accumulated go?

 

Was a foreign Govt interfering in Fijis internal politics?

 

These are questions that need to be answered.

 

But more on that later.

 

It now appears that the current USP VC gets his salary tax free. Apparently this hasnt gone down well with some folk at FIRCA.

 

Well, lets not begrudge the man, he is doing a good job. But the same cant be said for some of his staff who are spending more time using USP computers to post blogs than doing what they are paid to do.

 

Yup, there are a "some" USP staff very heavily involved in the blogging that got people like Filipe Niagara sacked from his job at PSC.

 

And these USP staff through the Wansolwara "links" are closely linked with certain journalists and "activists" in making a lot of noise. Not that there is anything wrong with it.

 

It must be hard blogging about Fiji from their overseas locations!

Ringa Ringa Rosie......And they all fall down.......

INDEPENDENT,BALANCED,IMPARTIAL.

INDEPENDENT,BALANCED,IMPARTIAL.

INDEPENDENT,BALANCED,IMPARTIAL.

If Only Jim Ah Koys Heart Had Held Up

An old wily fox's name has cropped up again around the tanoa the other night.

No, not Berenado Vunibobo, the silver fox as he liked to be called.

JIM AH KOY. Thats who!

The last we heard of Jim, he was supposed to take up a cushy little job as Ambassador in China. Jim is half Chinese and the thinking in Ro Lady Mara House was that might curry some favor from the Chinese.

A $80 m loan to finish the Road Upgrade Project on the Kings Road maybe, or some moolah tp meet the pay increase on the cards for public servants.

This was more , how should we put it, Interesting.

You see, there has been so much talk about the Man Behind the Mask and his "dealings" with FIRCA, that certain members of the Military Council were beginning to get a bit jittery.

Here they were trying to fight corruption, it was a Clean Up Campaign after all, not a coup, and the Man Behind the Mask was the one being accused of mega-corruption.

Add to that a certain ex-Minister who has now devoted his energy to exposing his nemesis. He has some scores to settle thats for sure. And it helps that he has access to the big boys on the Military Council.

And so a plan was hatched.

Replace the Man Behind the Mask with the Wily old Fox. Not the Berenado type, but the Jim Ah Koy type.

According to very well placed sources, Jim was In. A sure shot, a certainity.

Unfortunately, Mr Ah Koy recently suffered a heart attack . Our thoughts and well wishes are with him.

As for the Man Behind the Mask , he survives again!

(To our special contributors for this piece, please continue to email your "thoughts" to loyal.fijian2@gmail.com or to assigned intermediaries.)

Lt Col Sakiusa Raivoce and BOMB THREATS - Somebody's watching!

A Public forum which included Former PM Laiseania Qarase to be called of because of a "SUSPICIOUS" bomb threat , the second in two days there. Others that were in the meeting included:

• former Supervisor of Elections Semesa Karavaki,


• National Federation Party secretary general Pramod Rae


• Acting leader of the United Peoples Party Mick Beddoes


• former head of mission to China Jerry Waqanisau,


• former high commissioner to Malaysia Adi Samanunu Talakuli,


• former CEO at the Ministry of Reconciliation Apisalome Tudreu,


• former Public Service Commission CEO Anare Jale,


• former CEO for Women Emele Duituturaga,


• former SDL members of Parliament Samisoni Tikoinasau, Ted Young and Adi Sivia Qoro


• and Global Risks Ltd boss Sakiusa Raivoce.

According to sources, it is the participation in the forum of the Lt Col Sakiusa Raivoce that has got alarm bells ringing.

Lt Col Raivoce as is well known to most, is the chief recruiter for a private security company that sends former Fiji soldiers to Iraq as security guards.

Lt Col Raivoce is also infamous for his involvement in sending 9 former Fiji soldiers to Bouganville as mercenaries for Noah Musingku's cargo cult.

Noah Musingku is a self styled cult leader who had promised that large amounts of money was about to arrive in Bouganville to make them all rich, similar to Sakaraia Ve's cult movement of 1999 when a large number of people in Fiji resigned from their jobs to wait for container loads of money at Sakaraia Ve's house in Vatuwaqa.

There are concerns in the security circles that Lt Col Raivoce who is known to have been in contact with another former Army man and charged conspirator in the "assassination conspiracy", Col Jone Baledrokadroka, the brother-in-law of Rt Inoke Takaivekata.

However, not all is well for Lt Col Raivoce. Many former soldiers who have returned for Iraq have return disilliusioned and angry at the conditions that they found in Iraq. What they were promised in Fiji and what the actually found when they got there seemed that they had been serious misled.

Here is an exchange between former soldier Jo Nasilasila and ABC journalist Ross Duncan in which Jo Nasilasila quite angrily tells how he and others were misled in Iraq by Raivoce's company.

Stan Correy: Jo Nasilasila had worked as a UN Peacekeeper in Lebanon, and he was shocked at how different conditions were when he worked for Global Risk Strategies in Iraq. The rules of engagement were different and very difficult.

Jo Nasilasila: We worked on the rules of engagement provided by the coalition provisional authority which was running Iraq then, which was very different from the UN regulations.

Although we were taught to mix before starting operation, the risk was still high. You cannot wait for the bullet to reach you before you fire.

Ross Duncan: Were any Fijians injured or killed in those attacks?

Jo Nasilasila: More of seven of them are still suffering today. Most of them have their waist down not working well from bullets. Some of them have shot their hands from their normal hands which they had before they left Iraq. Some – and the trauma, I believe more than 80% of us we still suffer trauma of Iraq.

Stan Correy: The fuzziness of the rules surrounding the offensive and defensive roles of the private military contractor was a life-threatening problem for Nasilasila and his friends. But he also experienced another common difficulty in working with the modern private military corporation, the sometimes very haphazard nature of the contracts.

Jo Nasilasila: We were told that contracts will be provided when we reach Iraq.

Ross Duncan: And were they?

Jo Nasilasila: After reaching Iraq there was no sign of any contract. It took three weeks for them to finally provide a contract which was not meant for us. The contract was meant for the Nepalese from Kathmandu. The contract was not a proper contract. We've learned from that. If there is a chance to go back I'll probably see that it's signed and conditional before leaving for Iraq.

Ross Duncan: You think everyone was able to read and understand those contracts?

Jo Nasilasila: Yes, most of us didn't want to sign the contract, because it was for the Nepalese themselves said. We stood back and we told officers that we were not going to sign the contract. But they threaten us to sign, because if you won't sign, you'll have to find your own way back home. We had no choice, we had to sign.

Stan Correy: Jo Nasilasila thought he was going to Iraq to do perimeter work, protecting pipelines. He in fact ended up doing the much more dangerous job of working on a convoy truck distributing the new Iraqi currency.

Th anger expressed by Jo Nasilasila is shared by many others who were recruited by Raivoce. Raivoce's company is one of the largest private security firms in Iraq.

Blackwater pays its employees from $800- $1200 USD a day . Global Risks paid the Fijian soldiers something like $200 -$350 Fijian dollars and from that deducted expenses for meals, clothes etc. No wonder Nasilasila and others are unhappy and.......waiting?

NASIR ALI, OH HOW THE WHEEL TURNS!

Nasir Ali will now get to smell the "beautiful" PAFCO breeze in the old Capital, the beautiful Levuka as Inspector.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen or in Nasir Ali's case, fallen AGAIN!

As most of us remember, Nasir Ali has once before been booted out of the Police Force only to be given the spotlight as the Chief Investigator of that bunch of incompetent bumbling fools knows as FICAC.

Nasir Ali couldnt believe his luck when he was brought out from retirement to be appointed the TOP DOG in FICAC as it went out trying to prove "corruption" in the old regime. (No cases of corruption have been brought before the courts and FICAC officers are more interested in securing training trips to Malaysia than doing any actual investigating.)

Night after night he appeared on our television screens telling the people of Fiji that there were 479 files of alleged corruption sitting on his desk for investigations and he was going to nail them all, leading raids into the offices of Fiji Development Bank and Fiji Holdings and conveniently appearing for the newpaper cameras when his "boys" raided PWD.

No doubt about it, Nasir Ali was having the time of his life.

But, deep down his hatred of certain officers in the Police whom he held responsible for his earlier sacking continued to burn. He embarked on a campaign of retribution against those he held responsible.

Then came the day that Nasir Ali had been waiting for. He was appointed as the Assistant Police Commissioner (Crime) and sent back into the Force to conduct a clean up campaign.

His day had arrived. Beware all those who had crossed Nasir Ali.

Rumours of discontent in the Police have been circulating around the grog basins for a while. The confiscation of his vehicle by Deputy Commissioner Eroni Antonio, the Force was ripe with rumours of an impending purge. Nasir Ali was about to be kicked out again.

But Nasir has very powerful friends, very powerful!

And so Nasir stayed.

And for all those who may be rejoicing, a word of caution. Nasir still has very powerful friends. Just ask the Attorney General!

This story is far from over..............the Levuka quarters need not be cleaned out right away!

Naria 3 SISTERS Mystery BREAKTHROUGH?

The decomposing body of a  woman was found in mangrove swamps yesterday in Naria , Rakiraki.

 

Unless you have been on another planet, you would know that Naria was the place where 3 sisters vanished after going on a "picnic" with Dip Chand, the fisherman. Dip Chand's case has recently been sent for re-trial as was reported by Loyal Fijian in an earlier post.

 

Is this the body of one of the 3 SISTERS?

 

There is a real possibility that it could be. Or it could be the body of another young girl who had disappeared some months prior to the disappearnce of the 3 sisters.

 

Fiji police forensic experts and a team of detectives arrived in Naria to investigate the discovery of body parts .

The find of the body had been preced by the discovery 3 days earlier of a human wrist in the same mangrove swamp.

 

Does the wrist belong to the same female?

 

Amazingly the Fiji Police did not mount a full scale serach of the mangroves until a womna looking for "naqari" found the body wrapped in a FSC issue fertilizer bag.

 

Is one of Fijis greatest murder mysteries about to be solved?