11 Jan 2011

Baffled Fiji Rugby Union wants documents returned

1:44 pm on 11 January 2011

The board of the Fiji Rugby Union is currently meeting after the interim government called for its resignation and asked for a new administration to be put into place.

This follows findings by the Commerce Commission that the union misused funds from its lottery tickets sales.

The FRU Chairman, Bill Gavoka, says they are being bullied by the Commision and that any discrepancies could be explained if their financial records and accounts from the lottery were returned.

Mr Gavoka says the interim government told them last month that there was no money to support Fiji's Rugby World Cup campaign, so he was surprised by yesterday's incentive on the proviso that the board and executives resigned from their positions.

"These guys know how to play without the rules, don't they? They set their own rules and we were surprised when the press conference came yesterday and dangling the three million dollars infront of the people of Fiji. They're very good these guys, very very good. But we'll go and talk - we'll see what is involved and we'll decide by this afternoon how to proceed."

Bill Gavoka says he wants to have face to face talks with the interim Sports Minister, Felipe Bole, to help solve the dispute and is happy for the lottery records to be sent to an auditor.