Fiji's prime minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, has used a speech at a bank launch to ask people not to vote for politicians he says were responsible for the collapse of the National Bank of Fiji in the 1990s.
Commodore Bainimarama made the call at the launch of the Home Finance Company Bank, which is a joint venture between the national superannuation fund and the Unit Trust of Fiji.
The bank is set to open with full operations on March the 3rd.
He says the National Bank failed because a greedy elite used it as a personal piggy bank, with both the governments and the Reserve Bank failing in their duties.
Commodore Bainimarama says the same politicians and hangers-on who were responsible for the scandal now want to be elected in this year's polls.
While not naming them, he accuses them of treating the public as if it was stupid and urges people to call their bluff and consign them to the dustbin of history.
