Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka has summoned Minister for Sports, Jese Saukuru to a one-on-one meeting in light of the questions raised about the New Zealand trip of him and his spouse, and other matters relating to the Fiji Sports Council, which falls under Minister Saukuru’s portfolio.
Rabuka confirms that a request was submitted on 20th January 2025 by the Permanent Secretary for Youth and Sports seeking approval for Saukuru to travel to New Zealand to accompany the Fiji Sports Council’s Under-20 Rugby Sevens team, from 28th January to 5th February last year.
Rabuka says the request followed an invitation from the Fiji Sports Council and was approved.
However, the Prime Minister says the application made no reference to Saukuru being accompanied by his spouse.
Rabuka says while Ministers may be accompanied by their spouse on official travel—either at the Minister’s own cost or where sponsored by a host country—such arrangements must be clearly stated in the original submission.
He says this information should have formed part of the request and is assessed on a case-by-case basis.
Rabuka adds with regard to the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption, the 2013 Constitution is clear that under Section 115(6), FICAC is an independent body, and neither he nor the Government has the authority to direct or control it.
Meanwhile the main whistleblower in the Fiji Sports Council case is appalled at the decision made by FICAC to clear the Council CEO, Gilbert Vakalalabure and senior staff when revelations have been made now by Minister for Sports, Jese Saukuru that Saukuru and his wife travelled business class under the Sports Council tickets last year.
The whistleblower who is a former employee of the Fiji Sports Council says this confirms that his complaint to FICAC has merit.
The former staff member says he wants to see what the government will do as he has all the evidence. He confirms he had brokered the contra deal for Fiji Sports Council with Fiji Airways, and it was only supposed to be used by staff for official travel.
The whistleblower says this was to focus on their mandate under the Fiji Sports Council Act to expand and maintain sports facilities in the country.
The contra was supposed to be used to go to different parts of the country for site inspections and sports facility development, and for attachment programs for staff to go to major stadiums overseas to assist in the uplifting of standards here.
He stresses that the official invitation to the Sports Minister made no mention of the Minister's spouse, further highlighting the impropriety of the arrangement.
In an interview with fijivillage News yesterday, Minister for Sports, Jese Saukuru confirmed he was invited to travel to New Zealand by the Fiji Sports Council for a grassroots 7s tournament last year, he travelled business class but it was not his decision for his wife to travel in business class.
Saukuru made these comments to us as questions start to be raised on the issues of conflict of interest and the manner in which FICAC has cleared the Fiji Sports Council CEO, Gilbert Vakalalabure in relation to the allegations levelled against him and some other senior executives of Fiji Sports Council.
When questioned by fijivillage News, Minister for Sports Saukuru said he was unaware that Gilbert Vakalalabure was under investigation for certain allegations by FICAC and only got to know when he was cleared.
Saukuru confirms that he travelled to New Zealand in business class with his wife after the invitation by the Fiji Sports Council to attend a 7s tournament organised by the Fijian diaspora.
When further questioned, Saukuru says he never demanded business class travel for him or his wife.
Saukuru told fijivillage News that he can always pay back what his wife has used and he will do it as he loves his wife, and she has been behind him all the time.
The allegations made by a former Fiji Sports Council employee included misuse of Fiji Airways Contra Agreement where a partnership intended exclusively for official Council business was used for personal benefit, unauthorised travel for family members, misallocation of resources where a Minister’s spouse was accommodated on a business-class ticket at the Council’s expense displacing the Team Manager who was originally scheduled to travel and suppression of concerns when the former employee formally raised objections (both in writing and verbally), Vakalalabure allegedly dismissed the matter, instructing him to "drop the issue" after the Minister offered belated reimbursement.
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