Chairman of Fijian Holdings Limited (FHL) Isoa Kaloumaira said proper consultations were carried out before FHL made the bid to buy BP Oil which was worth $190 million which was later turned down after FHL could not get a financier.

Kaloumaira made the comment while answering queries from FHL shareholders during the AGM last Friday on whether a study was done first, since FHL used more than $3.7 million to pay for consultancy and travel expenses.

One of the shareholders claimed it was a waste of money when the company was venturing into this kind of business without proper consultations.

However, Kaloumaira defended the move saying consultations were done, and the recommendation given was that the oil business would have brought a lot of revenue to the company.

He said when FHL put up the bid to buy BP, they managed to get the support from a local financer, but this local financier turned the request down later, due to the recent political upheavals like the abrogation of the constitution in April and the devaluation of the Fiji dollar.

FHL chief executive officer Sereana Qoro said BP Oil returned the $18 million deposit because the agreement signed had stated that if the deal was not successful then BP would return the money.

She said FHL gained an additional $2.4 million because of the devaluation.