FijiFirst MP, Rinesh Sharma is under the spotlight for comments made to the Australian media for the case where an Australian man had a self inflicted wound after he had an argument with his wife in Ba.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Professor Biman Prasad told fijivillage News that Sharma needs to be investigated by the Police as he used the man’s case to highlight what he described as heightened crime rates due to cost-of-living hikes.
He says in the overseas media article, Sharma urged the Fiji Police Force to increase their presence in towns, cities and communities, and every Fijian to take caution in public spaces and secure their premises.
Professor Prasad says Sharma is knowingly trying to destroy Fiji’s reputation and economy without understanding all the facts.
He says the livelihood of the young people in the tourism industry, the national airline, and the economy are at risk because of Sharma’s comments.
In response to Professor Prasad’s comments, Sharma has called on the Deputy Prime Minister to get his facts right as he has not spoken to any Australian media, but rather News.com.au has taken a quote from his social media post where he requested the Fiji Police Force to increase presence and caution people on being safe.
Sharma says after he heard about the horrific news of a 58 year old lady that was brutally bashed in her house in Moto, Ba -someone on social media shared with him a link about the news of a Victorian man’s stabbing incident covered by 7News on 10th May 2024.
He says in reference to these two articles, he had put a post on Facebook about how high cost of living is related to high crime rates.
He adds when high VAT is imposed on people, we tend to afford less and our day to day struggles increase.
Sharma says businesses cost of operation has gone up and this impacts the number of employees and the number of hours reduced for employees also.
He further says the ripple effects are increased unemployment, poverty and crime.
Sharma says when the investigations surfaced for the stabbing case of the Australian tourist, on 13th May, 2024, fijivillage News had reported that the Australian man had a self inflicted wound after an argument with his wife.
He says according to a post by the Fiji Police Force on the 16th of February, 2024, a 10% of increase in overall crime was recorded for the month of January, 2024 and crime against women recorded a 31% increase.
We have sought comments from the Police. They are yet to reply.
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