Flour Mills of Fiji Limited has today stressed that it has paid all its dues in relation to the Crown Land Lease that it is holding.
FMF Chairman Hari Punja said there may be an internal issue with the Lands Department which is highlighted in the latest Public Accounts Committee report.
The Public Accounts Committee has said in the latest report that from 2002 to 2006, four loans were taken by FMF from the bank on the crown land lease without reassessment being carried out.
The committee then goes on to say that the lessee was underpaying rental for the Crown Land, leaving arrears of 144 thousand 900 dollars outstanding since 1999.
The committee said contrary to what was on the record, the department simply claimed oversight on its part on issues of the lease supposedly surrendered in 1998 and a new industrial lease issued with the annual rental increased to 39 thousand dollars, with the lessee only paying an annual rental of 18 thousand dollars.
Accounts Committee Member, Taufa Vakatale said this issue needs to be urgently looked at by the Lands Ministry on how the officials are now claiming an oversight when the records say otherwise.
Punja stresses that they have always paid whatever has been assessed. He also said there was no notification of any reassessment.
FMF says it has paid all its dues
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