FCCC investigates complaints based on legal procedures, not emotions - Abraham

Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission Chief Executive Officer Joel Abraham says they investigate complaints based on legal procedures and not on emotions.

He highlighted this with regards to the case of Pramil Prasad who was illegally evicted from his home in Tamavua last month and later returned to that flat after the Legal Aid Commission assisted the family in getting a court order for them to return to the house.

Prasad had earlier questioned why FCCC did not take any action from the time he filed the complaint in September as the threat to evict them was made by the landlord.

When questioned by Fijivillage on Prasad’s claim and the delay, Abraham says the FCCC was investigating the case in accordance with the process of natural justice and it was compounded by the fact that certain aspects of Prasad’s complaint was conflicting in nature.

The CEO says this does not mean that they are encouraging delays but people need to be aware that complaints have increased by about five times due to COVID-19 and they cannot just go around charging everyone without investigating properly.

He says no one knew that the landlord would forcefully evict Prasad and his family and to expect the FCCC or any other organization to have foreseen that is unreasonable.