The Fiji Rugby Union is maintaining that it will not reveal the exact work related breaches allegedly committed by 7s maestro Waisale Serevi when he was the coach and player of the Digicel Fiji 7s team.
FRU Chief Executive Ratu Timoci Tavanavanua said the agreement between the FRU, which is the employer and Serevi who is the employee, should be respected.
He said the matter will remain confidential as both the FRU and Serevi agreed that he will not join the FRU in the near future based on his actions.
Information has now been received by Fijivillage News on the action taken by former Fiji 7s coach and player Waisale Serevi which resulted in him resigning from the post last year.
Fijivillage News has spoken to reliable sources who were involved with the team last year about what transpired during the IRB 7s Series in 2007, which resulted in Serevi leaving the FRU and the 7s team.
We have received information that the Fiji 7s team went on a promotional tour dealing with a tourism marketing campaign before the Hong Kong 7s tournament last year. The team left our shores almost a fortnight earlier than the tournament to participate in the campaign.
The whole team participated in the promotional campaign. It is alleged that a cheque was then given by the company to Serevi. This cheque was the payment for the team after the promotional work they had done.
Some of the people who were part of that 7s team and management told Fijivillage News that they were fully aware that Serevi allegedly received the cheque. However, no one raised the question and it was never discussed in the team meetings.
When the team returned to Fiji, there was an expectation that Serevi will hand over the cheque but this was never done. The matter was then raised with the Fiji Rugby Union.
Meetings were held with Serevi and we have been informed that in about two meetings Serevi denied receiving payment for the tourism promotional campaign. He then resigned from the coach's position. Our sources said it was clear that if the team participated in the promotional campaign, the payment was meant for the team, not just Serevi. The other issue is that Serevi should have informed his employer, the FRU about the matter.
We have posed the question to Serevi in relation to the information. First on Tuesday night, Serevi said from Taiwan that he will not say anything on the matter. We asked him again yesterday. Serevi asked us where we were getting the questions from and whether these queries were passed on to us by the FRU. When we maintained that the questions are being posed by Fijivillage News to him to give his side of the story for the people of Fiji, he said he does not want to speak.
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FRU Mum on Serevi Resignation
