Come clean on Grace Road Church - Rabuka

People’s Alliance Leader, Sitiveni Rabuka says it is a disgrace that South Korean religious sect, Grace Road Church, whose founder is serving jail time in Korea for abusing its adherents has been given the red-carpet treatment by the FijiFirst Government.

Rabuka says a People’s Alliance Government will launch an investigation into the operations of Grace Road Church in Fiji if it comes into power following the upcoming general elections.

This follows the release of a detailed investigation by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, OCCRP into the Church’s business dealings in Fiji.

Rabuka says they are not aware of the acquisition of land and approvals processes etc and it will need deeper understanding where they shall rely on international cooperation.

He says the Prime Minister and Attorney General talk so much about leaving no Fijian behind, but to learn through the OCCRP investigation that Grace Road Church allegedly benefitted from loans from the Fiji Development Bank makes a mockery of the government’s claims.

Rabuka asks what equity did they bring as part of the deals to justify the lending.

The People’s Alliance Leader was also critical of the role Fijian Police played in the aborted attempt to deport leaders of Grace Road to face trial in South Korea in August 2018.

He says Fiji Police didn’t have any problems allowing Chinese police to swoop into the country on a chartered Boeing 747 jumbo to arrest up to 77 Chinese nationals in August of 2017, yet seemed to have lost the urge when South Korean police asked for a similar arrangement in 2018.

Rabuka says if they were ever so willing to assist the Chinese then, why lose the appetite all so suddenly one year later, in August 2018.

Police have not made any comments when asked about the Grace Road investigation.

FDB is yet to respond to our questions that were sent last week.

When questioned on the report by the Fijian media, Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says he has not heard about the organisation that has done the report. He says if you want to talk about corruption, you need to look at the UN reports and Transparency International, they are credible organisations.

He also says there is no report done on pastors from faith based organisations raping members of their congregation here.

Grace Road operates the country’s largest chain of restaurants, controls roughly 400 hectares of farmland, owns eight supermarkets and mini marts, and runs five petrol stations. Its businesses also provide services such as dentistry, events catering, heavy construction and Korean beauty treatments.