Organised gambling is known to bring with it many forms of criminal activity, such as, corruption, drug peddling, extortion, human trafficking, prostitution, money laundering and so on.
Fiji Labour Party Leader, Mahendra Chaudhry stated this in a release saying we just do not have the resources or the competence to handle such complex issues to keep our people safe from its harmful effects.
Chaudhry says we already have a serious drugs problem with many of our young people ending up in trouble with the law.
He also says we certainly do not want to exacerbate the situation.
The Labour Leader says he suspects this proposed $2 billion development could be like the four pie-in- the-sky type projects proposed by Chinese foreign investors during the Bainimarama government but none of which ever saw the light of day.
He says the last of these was the so called $600m Nasese Foreshore development by Tian Lun Investment.
Chaudhry says the company obtained a five-year development lease over a large area of the foreshore but did virtually no work on it for over five years.
He says it was attempting to secure a long term lease but their application was rejected by the government earlier this year.
The Labour Leader says it seems that the top priority of the David Group of Macao is obtaining the Casino license.
He says there is no guarantee that the other aspects of the proposed development will eventuate if the license is granted.
Chaudhry warns that we have to be extremely careful of such foreign investment proposals.
