17 Sep 2013

Fiji Government refuses comment on reports of massive pay hikes

2:12 pm on 17 September 2013

The Fiji government has refused to comment on a report that shows the salaries of heads of government departments have been increased by up to 200 per cent.

The head of the Fiji Labour Party, Mahendra Chaudhry, says a PriceWaterhouseCoopers report was released to him, showing the new salaries of permanent secretaries of government departments.

Fiji's Ministry of Information has told Radio New Zealand International it has no response to the reports.

Earlier this year the Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, said the government salaries, including his own and that of the Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama, would be made public once the new constitution was finalised.

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum was responding to accusations by political parties that Commodore Bainimarama receives more than 700,000 US dollars a year.

Fiji's president assented to the constitution on September the 6th.