This is just gutter politics – Prof.Prasad

I am accountable to the Prime Minister, Cabinet and taxpayers of Fiji, not to unscrupulous politicians who shamelessly insult the Girmitiya and their descendants with their gutter-level comments.

This is the response of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Professor Biman Prasad after being accused by Leader of the Opposition Inia Seruiratu and Fiji Labour Party Leader Mahendra Chaudhry of giving $200,000 to the Global Girmit Institute.

Professor Prasad who is the Leader of the National Federation Party says its abundantly clear that detractors of the coalition government are resorting to gutter politics because they cannot digest the resounding success of the Girmit Day commemoration including the international Girmit Conference.

He says the money was given to the Global Girmit Institute not as a payout, but as a grant specifically for the conference, under an agreement vetted by the Solicitor General’s Office.

Professor Prasad says both Seruiratu and Chaudhry claim Professor Prasad paid the money because his wife Dr Rajni Chand is a trustee of Global Girmit Institute. He says the Opposition Leader even accused Professor Prasad of giving the money to his wife.

The Deputy Prime Minister says this is lunacy.

He asks if the Ministry of Finance releases a grant to USP where Dr Rajni Chand is employed, does it mean that he is giving money to her and not to USP.

The Deputy Prime Minister says their malicious claim is similar to the attacks directed at him over the $360,000 estimated budget of the National Economic Summit.

Professor Prasad says after he publicly revealed that the total cost of the two day Summit of over 500 delegates was around $281,000 and that taxpayers paid only $111,000 of this amount because $170,000 was secured through sponsorship, the critics shut their mouths.

He says now they have found another issue to spew lies and gutter comments.

The Deputy Prime Minister says the problem with Seruiratu is that he is a puppet of his political masters who are no longer in Parliament but that is his choice.

He says if Seruiratu wants to be acid-tongued and belligerent, he is only fast-tracking his own political demise.

Professor Prasad says Mahendra Chaudhry’s political track record is no secret.

He says here is a person who employed his son as his private secretary and claimed housing allowance when staying in his own house as Prime Minister.

Professor Prasad says this shows that Chaudhry is only good at nit-picking, and this is being thoroughly dishonest.

He says just like the expenditure for the National Economic Summit, the people of Fiji will soon know how much the Girmit commemoration cost the taxpayers, including accountability of the international conference.