October 12, 2012

FICAC withdraws from investigating TLTB theft

07:14 Today (12 October 2012)
Report by: Mika Loga

The Fiji Independent Commission against Corruption will not be investigating allegations of theft at the i-Taukei Land Trust Board as initially indicated.

FICAC has withdrawn itself from the investigations after they learnt that police have commenced investigation into the matter.

FICAC’s Chief Commission Officer Southern, Isireli Tagicaki says, the Commission received an official complaint from TLTB two weeks after a similar complaint was lodged with the Police.

However, TLTB boss Alipate Qetaki told FBC News FICAC gave reasons that they were busy and under-resourced to carry out the investigation and referred the matter to Police.

Meanwhile, the Fiji Intelligence Unit has defended itself against criticisms by the i-Taukei Land Trust Board that it was not vigilant enough to become suspicious and detect the large deposits in the bank accounts of the staff implicated.

FIU’s Deputy Chief Mariana Tukana says, it is not their job to do this but rather the banks.

Tukana says any unusual activity would be detected by financial institutions and reported to FIU as a suspicious transaction.


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