20 Jun 2013

Fiji parties imperiled by incomplete financial declarations

6:14 pm on 20 June 2013

Fiji's Registrar of Political Parties, Mohammed Saneem, has released financial records of officials and applicants of three registered political parties and says he will now verify the declarations.

Under a regime decree, parties were obliged to submit financial details of their members and executives, as well as of their spouses and children by June 7th.

However, Fiji Village reports many officials and applicants have not revealed their sources of income, with some saying they don't know their adult children's affairs.

Mr Saneem has so far declined to say if adult children are subject to the decree.

According to the decree, any person who fails to comply with the requirements could face a 27,000 US dollar fine or up 10 year in prison, or both.

The Labour Party's general secretary, Mahendra Chaudhry, has declared assets of about 2 million US dollars.

The regime leaders have kept their assets secret and also refuse to say how big their taxpayer-funded salaries are.