Who are the sponsors of the National Economic Summit - Chaudhry

Who are the sponsors of the National Economic Summit as the danger in not disclosing the names is that such sponsorships could be perceived as political donations made to influence the outcome of the Summit.

Fiji Labour Party Leader, Mahendra Chaudhry has raised this question as he says from a transparency view-point alone, the Finance Minister must disclose the names and amounts donated by the sponsors.

Chaudhry also says it is surprising that Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka should now retract a statement he made on Friday.

He says in the Prime Minister’s statement run by Communications Fiji Ltd, Rabuka had categorically stated: “I am not in favour of the $360,000 budget for the Economic Summit. People can pay for their own food and kalavata.”

Chaudhry says Rabuka had gone on to say that “…the budget was not approved. I will talk to the Minister.”

But the FLP Leader says in a statement today Rabuka says that “the budget was approved by Cabinet on the understanding that the Ministry would seek sponsorship for the summit to minimize costs”.

Chaudhry says we are now told that the summit has attracted significant financial sponsorship of over $150,000.

We have sent questions to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Professor Biman Prasad.