6 Oct 2011

Leaked Fiji documents reveal more on Air Pacific role in decree

4:27 pm on 6 October 2011

Leaked documents in Fiji have shed more light on a British consultancy's work on behalf of Air Pacific.

New documents, made public by the blog coupfourandahalf, show the company Marshall-James invoiced Air Pacific 33,000 US dollars in fees.

Last month, the CEO of the firm Marshall-James, Andy Cook, said he had not been engaged by Air Pacific or the Fiji interim government to support or help implement its union decree.

Mr Cook issued a statement to say he had beenasked for an opinion and urged the Fijian Government to adopt a policy of engaging with the International Union Movement and the ILO.

This followed widespread concern that the interim regime's union decree violated conventions Fiji had signed up to.

However, Air Pacific claimed Mr Cook had been hired to work on its behalf on issues relating to the ILO complaint made against Fiji and the airline.

The decree had been commissioned by Air Pacific from a New York law firm at a cost of 24,000 US dollars.

Neither Air Pacific nor the interim regime has explained the process of procuring the decree.

Qantas, which owns 46 percent of Air Pacific, has been reluctant to comment on its role in commissioning the decree, saying only it doesn't fly to Fiji.