SODELPA leader and Minister for Education Aseri Radrodro has stressed that the party did not participate in any travel arrangements with respect to the chartered flight to Israel in September, 2023.
This comes as Fiji Airways is taking legal action to recover payments from the commercial charter arrangement and Fiji Labour Party claims Deputy Prime Minister and Tourism Minister Viliame Gavoka’s name had been closely associated with the entire sordid affair and some top ranking people in SODELPA and the People’s Alliance were on the charter flight and had not paid their fares
While responding to questions by fijiivillage News, Radrodro says if there were some SODELPA Party members that traveled, then they have to be individually liable for their own fares.
He says SODELPA is proud of Fiji Airways as our National carrier and it is in everybodies best interest that those who owe money for that flight make good on their payment.
Radrodro says any misconception that SODELPA as a political party is involved must be corrected because it is not only incorrect but also unsubstantiated.
Meanwhile, FLP leader Mahendra Chaudhry says the outgoing CEO and the Board of Fiji Airways must be held fully responsible for the scandal surrounding the unpaid $3 million.
He says after two years of lying to the public and dodging a full disclosure, Fiji Airways has finally admitted to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Affairs that the bulk of the money has not been paid and it is now suing the travel agency, Pacific Voyager, for non payment on the Israeli pilgrimage flight.
Chaudhry says it is unheard of for any reputable airline to agree to a ‘travel now pay later’ scheme.
He says taking the matter to court now is not likely to recover the owed fares and is simply another gimmick to mislead the Fijian people.
The FLP leader says as late as 7 February 2024, the travel agency was owing $2.5 million on the chartered flight and after an initial payout to enable the flight to take off late in September 2023, the travel company had consistently defaulted on repayment agreements with Fiji Airways.
He says instead of being honest with the taxpayers of Fiji, Fiji Airways continued to say it was a commercial deal and that the airline had had long standing associations with the charter company.
Chaudhry says FLP had consistently queried the prudence of the deal with a travel company which had little credibility to undertake a $3 million charter, and claims that Fiji Airways had succumbed to political pressure to undertake the charter.
He says even when facing questions from the parliamentary standing committee, Fiji Airways outgoing CEO Andre Viljoen did not disclose the exact amount owing and he says they are now told the amount owing is more than $2 million.
The former Prime Minister also alleges that there is no doubt that this was a scam from the very beginning and most of the people involved had no intention of paying their fares.
He says they found a charter company willing to participate in the scheme knowing that it had the support and protection of the people in authority.
Chaudhry claims that most of these free-riders on the Fiji Airways charter pilgrimage flight to Jerusalem paid nothing though they had promised to do so.
Fiji Airways had earlier said that a vetting process in relation to the charterer and the various guarantors was undertaken, which included consideration of the charterer’s history of operating successful international charters and making timely payments, and the company’s management and board of directors made an informed business judgment to proceed with the charter flights.
In response to further questions by fijivillage News, Fiji Airways as the matter is currently before the court, they are unable to provide further comment at this time.
People’s Alliance has yet to respond to questions by fijiivillage News.
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