Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama says out of the 353,416 Fijians who applied for the second round of the Government's $50 cash assistance, 65,275 people applied with more than one sim card.
Bainimarama says another 65,224 were already recipients of unemployment benefits under the FNPF scheme while 21,000 were already recipients of welfare payments, TELS, Toppers and were under the age of 18.
He says these tens of thousands did not qualify because they already were receiving other forms of assistance.
Bainimarama says yesterday, government paid out another $10.2 million in $50 payments to 205,000 Fijians in the informal sector. He says when people take advantage of government assistance, they are not just stealing from government, they are are stealing from friends and neighbours.
Bainimarama says some people have been submitting phony phone numbers to squeeze out more assistance they are entitled to receive.
He says we should not tolerate double-dippers.
The Prime Minister says while many Fijian businesses have been able to safely re-open, there are still thousands of Fijians who cannot return to work because our borders are still closed.
Bainimarama says the Northern and Eastern divisions remain COVID contained and they are working hard to keep them that way.
