Member of Parliament Alvick Maharaj is raising serious concerns about the effectiveness and competency of the Fiji Police Force as there was a delay in action by police officers at Raiwaqa Police Station in dealing with a report regarding his mother’s stolen purse from the CWM Hospital.
Maharaj says on Thursday at around midday, his mother’s purse was picked up from her bag without her consent at the CWM Hospital while she was there to collect her medication.
He says after realizing the purse missing, he contacted the bank to block the card, it was only then he was informed at around 10am on Friday that the culprit has been withdrawing money using the ATM card and had swiped the card at Thirsty Liquor in Lami, purchasing around $1,800 worth of liquor.
He says the bank also informed him that the culprit withdrew the money on Friday morning before the card was blocked.
Maharaj says realizing that evidence is there since the culprit had been using ATM machines to withdraw the fund, he opted to lodge a formal complaint at the Raiwaqa Police Station, hoping that police might take an immediate action to identify the culprit.
He says he was attended by an officer who took the statement and was informed that the case would be transferred to Totogo Police Station.
The MP says after lodging the complaint, he went to obtain the bank statement and realized that the total amount stolen from his mother’s bank account was a little less than $6,000.
He says while he was at Raiwaqa Police Station, the culprit had allegedly withdrawn close to around $1,900.
Maharaj says he expected police to be proactive, knowing that video footage is available as evidence, and police would take some action to see if the culprit is a known criminal and they might be aware about his address.
He says he hoped police might also be proactive, as there was some chance to recover $3,800 cash and $1,900 worth of alcohol.
Maharaj says later on Friday afternoon at around 4pm, he called Raiwaqa Police Station to get an update and an officer informed him that they were yet to pass the statement to Totogo Police Station and once done, they would call and inform him.
He says he called Totogo Police Station after an hour to get an update and was informed that they were not aware of any such complaint and was requested if he can come and see them.
The MP says he went to the station on Friday night and unfortunately, the officer was already done for the day, but all other officers he met raised the same concern that Raiwaqa Police should have acted immediately in referring the case to Totogo Police Station.
He has acknowledged an officer at Raiwaqa who tried assisting with the complain and informed him that they will transfer the complain to Totogo.
Maharaj says he is raising concerns that the officer assigned to take his statement seemed to be too new or a trainee, was unaware about the procedure as he seemed to be lost and was asking around for assistance.
He says he is concerned that the case was not referred to Totogo on time as it took Raiwaqa Police Station the whole day to transfer the case.
Maharaj says no urgency was shown by officers even after knowing that money was withdrawn on Friday morning.
He says knowing that video footage is available with bank and in the weekend, bank would be closed no one took an effort to get consent from the court to get the footage, or at least ask Thirsty Liquor management for assistance knowing the $1,900 worth of shopping was done from the outlet.
He says during the weekend, since there was no action by police, the culprit would have enjoyed the drinks and finished it since its a weekend and also used the $4,000 cash he had withdrawn.
Maharaj says it would have been alright if no money or item was recovered but considering the amount involved, police would have at least done something on Friday or attempted to identify the culprit.
The MP says it seems like police have opted to just capture the culprit if identified and that is their responsibility, and there os no urgency to recover the amount.
He says he called in today to check on the case and was requested to bring the bank statement tomorrow to Totogo, so they can proceed with the file.
Maharaj says if we are serious about the national Security, he believes such administrative issues need to be resolved and police need to be more proactive rather than not even being able to identify the urgency of cases coming to them.
He adds while for some of them $6,000 is still manageable, for some citizens, it is their 6 months salary and such delay by police would definitely take the trust away from law enforcing agencies.
While responding to questions by fijivillage News, Acting Police Commissioner, Juki Fong Chew confirms Maharaj called him and he has referred the matter to Divisional Police Commissioner Central to update the complainant and the status of investigations.
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