The Commerce Commission has made it's position clear that it wants the Fiji Rugby Union World Cup lottery to be redrawn.
The commission's findings allege that documentary evidence gathered shows that a total of ten sold tickets were not included in the draw on the 30th of December 2010.
It said evidence of this not included in the draw is that these ticket butts are still in the ticket books.
The commission said in many cases, one ticket in the booklet containing five tickets was sold.
However it alleges the lottery organisers treated the whole book as unsold, and as such sold tickets in these booklets were not included.
Commission Chairman, Doctor Mahendra Reddy said due to this issue, these ticket holders were deprived of their legitimate right to be in the draw.
Based on the sold tickets not in the lottery draw, the commission states that all sold tickets must be included in a re-draw.
Meanwhile FRU Chairman, Bill Gavoka is still refusing to speak to Fijivillage News on the Commerce Commission's findings released yesterday and the Sports Minister, Filipe Bole's call for the current administration of the FRU to resign.
We called Gavoka a number of times yesterday and again today and he maintains that he will not speak to Fijivillage News and Fijivillage can go ahead and broadcast anything in relation to Bole's statement and the Commerce Commission finding.
We have asked Gavoka if he could give the FRU's side of the story for the sake of rugby and to ensure that we run their views on what actually happened in relation to the FRU lottery.
But he has continuously refused to say anything.
However FRU Chief Executive, Keni Dakuidreketi spoke to Fijivillage News a few days ago and he said that it is clear that the lottery matter will end up in the courts.
He also said that the Commission does not know the full story in relation to the FRU lottery issue.
Dakuidreketi also made it clear that the FRU cannot do much in relation to the current lottery prizewinners due to the current scenario and after the commission search and seizure of the lottery documents from the FRU office last week.
With the developments yesterday, the government has made it clear that it will only give 3 million dollars for the Fiji team's Rugby World Cup preparations and participation if the current administration resigns.
The FRU board will have a special board meeting today in Suva.
When contacted today, Dakuidreketi refused to make any comments and said all statements will come from Gavoka.
Gavoka was called again by Fijivillage News but he said that he has made it clear that he will not speak to us.
Meanwhile the commission said based on the bank statements obtained during its search and seizure, FRU's lottery account has just over 104 thousand dollars although based on tickets sold and total receipts the total amount collected should stand at just over 350 thousand dollars.
It said the total prize money is 300 thousand dollars and the question arises on how the FRU will make the payment to the prize winners.
The commission said it wrote to FRU last Thursday to obtain a copy of the most recent bank statements for the two lottery accounts and any other account of the FRU but was advised that any request for information needs to be directed to their lawyers, Munro Leys.
Their lawyers referred the commission to the bank and the bank referred the commission back to the FRU.
It has also been revealed by Commission Chairman, Doctor Mahendra Reddy that Munro Leys wrote to the commission last Tuesday and said that the FRU has done nothing wrong, that the commission has abused its powers, that the Fiji Commerce Commission Decree does not cover lottery sales and conduct and that selling lottery tickets at differential prices is same as selling goods at a supermarket on discount.
Doctor Reddy said the FRU could have discussed the matter with the commission to rectify the problem given the matter in relation to the commission's earlier directive needed urgent attention.
He said instead, FRU went ahead and hired a law firm to defend their case.
Doctor Reddy also said following the search at the FRU office last week, the commission again wrote to the FRU asking for a meeting.
However according to him, the FRU refused the meeting request.
Story by: Vijay Narayan
