The Legal Counsel for APRIL has hit out at the Chairman of the Natadola Bay Resort Limited, Felix Anthony's latest allegations saying that the comments are highly defamatory and it will be included in the court action that is being filed against him by APRIL.

Renee Lal, in a statement released, said that Anthony's latest press release is marked by misrepresentations, misinformation and the omission of crucial facts.

In Anthony's press release it was claimed that the Fiji National Provident Fund had been taken for a ride with regards to the Natadola Bay Resort Project and that in exchange for the land for the Natadola Project, valued at 5.5 million dollars, APRIL Development received a total of approximately 67.87 million dollars in benefits.

Lal said that the cost of the acquisition of the majority interest in Natadola by the FNPF was not just for land. It covered the total development over 10 years, of the most ambitious and potentially profitable tourism scheme in Fiji and the South Pacific, by a company called Hotel Property Pacific Limited (HPP).

Lal also added that Anthony is very critical of the arrangements between APRIL, the FNPF and the FNPF companies however, these arrangements were negotiated through a normal commercial process between willing parties and added that the FNPF was not obliged to invest in the scheme but had responded to an offer from HPP.