The Auditor General said investigations are underway into the substantial leave payout by the interim government, of $184000 given to Army Commander Frank Bainimarama for 698 days of leave accumulated since 1978.
On questions sent to the AG's office by Fijivillage on Laisenia Qarase's call for a thorough investigation into the matter, the Auditor General Eroni Vatuloka confirmed investigations commenced last week.
Meanwhile, the military said it was ready for any investigation into the matter as RFMF spokesperson Major Neumi Leweni said there was nothing wrong with the leave payouts.
"All the military needs to say is that there’s nothing to hide. If there is an investigation, we will answer to whatever questions that come our way. All I need to say is: if there is a claim, they need to substantiate it, come up with the names and the number they are saying. And that’s it – we don’t work on rumors. If we worked on rumors , there are thousands of rumors out there and I really don’t know how we’re going to handle it."
Investigate Commander’s Leave Payout Published 30/07/08 15.57
Ousted Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase is now calling on the Auditor General and FICAC to move in quickly and investigate the $184,000 leave payout to army commander Commodore Frank Bainimarama.
Qarase also claimed today that a total of 40 military officers allegedly received large payouts for outstanding leave.
"The SDL party has been saying that the Auditor General should go in right away and carry out a thorough investigation not only in relation to Bainimarama’s case but I believe there are 40 military officers altogether that have been granted this payout. That should be handled immediately. And if the Auditor General is unwilling to do that, then FICAC should step in because this, really, is a case of corruption, a case of collusion. This is a case of abuse of office. As taxpayers we have every right that independent investigations must be carried out so that we get the full facts relating to that payout."
Qarase also dismissed interim Finance Minister Mahendra Chaudhry's statement where he had blamed the previous governments for not dealing with Bainimarama's outstanding leave and leave payment.
"Mr. Chaudhry suggested that it should have been done by previous governments. Well he was Prime Minister for one year, so the question is why didn’t he authorize the pay-out in 1999-2000. Now during our term we tried to get the commander to take his leave. He refused. We had asked the President for a Committee of Inquiry into the military and the intention was to get the commander on leave while investigations takes place. But I was not aware of the magnitude of his leave .
Everybody can accumulate some leave, but it’s very limited and the same rule applies to everybody in the civil service and the security forces. There should not be a rule for military officers and a separate rule for everybody else. You can accumulate you leave for a very short period of time. If you do not take your leave, you lose it."
However, Chaudhry said the leave accumulated since 1978 to Army Commander Frank Bainimarama of $184,000 was not null and void.
Mahendra Chaudhry at a press conference yesterday afternoon disputed the claims by the Citizens Constitutional Forum's Reverend Akuila Yabaki that Bainimarama's leave payout was null and void as his contract as Army Commander had ended in January 2004.
He said there was continuity of employment and thus his leave accumulated was not null and void.
"If there is continuity of employment then it is not null and void. It was renewed."
