Carl Ngamoki-Cameron sent packing by Bainimarama

It's official. After much exposure and pressure, the Fijian owned Fijian Holdings Ltd is now free of the corrupt Carl Ngamoki-Cameron.

Kiwi removed from top Fiji company
MICHAEL FIELD
Last updated 10:26 06/10/2011

Fiji's military strongman Voreqe Bainimarama has ordered the removal of a New Zealand lawyer as chairman of one of the country's public companies.

The removal of Carl Ngamoki-Cameron comes after Bainimarama ordered a "special audit" of Fijian Holdings Ltd (FHL).

In a statement to the South Pacific Stock Exchange in Suva, FHL says the board had announced the rescinding of Ngamoki-Cameron's directorship and chairmanship.

No reason was given.

"FHL reassures its stakeholders that business will continue to operate as normal and the appointment made are in line with the relevant articles of Fijian Holdings Limited's Memorandum and Articles of Association," the statement says.

At the time of the "special audit" announcement, the regime said it was focussing on "corporate governance related issues and the recent appointment of the general manager for merchant finance".

Ngamoki-Cameron is also Bainimarama's nominee on the board of the Fiji Rugby Union.

He is a New Zealander who has become a naturalised Fiji citizen and until recently was close to the Bainimarama regime.

FHL is the only one of 16 stocks traded on the Suva market that is restricted to just indigenous Fijian owners.

FHL, an equity investment company, owns shares in 22 companies in Fiji and Papua New Guinea.

This includes 100 percent holding in Blue Lagoon Cruises as well as part holdings in Amalgamated Telecom and RB Patel Group.

- BusinessDay.co.nz

Australia Govt slams sham Lowy poll

Adding their voice to the choral of voices slamming the Lowy Institute's sham poll, the Australian Parliamentary Secretary on things Pacific adds Australia's scorn to the mix.

Fiji poll findings scorned
October 3, 2011

A POLL by a leading Australian research outfit claiming people in Fiji back the military regime of Frank Bainimarama has been ridiculed as ''frankly absurd'' by the Gillard government.

The Lowy Institute poll was released last month to coincide with a meeting of Pacific island leaders in New Zealand, including Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

The poll found the Fijian leader, who seized power in a 2006 coup, is more popular than Ms Gillard. But Labor's Richard Marles - who has responsibility in the government for Pacific ties - used a speech at the Lowy Institute in Sydney to condemn the poll's methodology.

'Commissioning a poll of this kind in Fiji is frankly absurd,'' Mr Marles said.

''In a country where there is a repressive regime, where people do get taken off to the barracks, if you are sitting at home and somebody knocks on the door and asks you what you think of the government, what do you think you'd say?''

The poll found a majority said Fiji should be left alone to sort out the return to democracy and opposed international pressure on the Fijian government. Australia was the country most favoured by Fijians, but more than four in five people said Canberra should lift sanctions on the Bainimarama regime.

Lowy Institute executive director Michael Wesley yesterday defended the survey, asking if such a climate of fear existed in Fiji why Commodore Frank Bainimarama only achieved around 60 per cent popularity, not the 99 per cent seen under the likes of Saddam Hussein. ''People who claim you can't poll in Fiji are essentially denying the Fijians a voice,'' Dr Wesley said.

But Mr Marles said the poll had no credibility. ''The people of Fiji deserve the right to elect their own government,'' he said.

Fiji: Criminals R Us

It's official. Not only is Fiji the scene of many financial crimes, we are now the number one destination for bonafide criminals.

Let's see how the Fiji Me professionals untangle that one.

Fantasies of Fiji end with jail
DAVID CLARKSON
Last updated 05:00 30/09/2011

A judge has dismissed as "fantasy" a drug dealer's claims that the wads of cash lying around his home and in his car were there legitimately to buy property in Fiji.

Having decided the cash was tainted from dealing in methamphetamine and cannabis, Judge Jane Farish sent Dean Anthony Ebert to jail for 7 1/2 years.

"Drug dealing, particularly methamphetamine, and possession for supply of these pernicious drugs always require a deterrent sentence because it has such a negative impact on the community," she said.

"People who involve themselves in that sort of offending need to know and understand that on their apprehension and arrest they will be dealt with severely by the courts."

She said it was clear Ebert had been dealing in a commercial way because of the amount of drugs and the cash found in his possession.

Ebert, 49, a freezing worker, pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine and cannabis for supply, cultivating cannabis, and unlawful possession of a shotgun and ammunition.

But he spent 40 minutes in a Christchurch District Court session at Christchurch Men's Prison yesterday trying to explain the bundles of cash that were going to add to his sentence if they were found to be drug money.

Prosecutor Kathy Basire said the Crown would go ahead with a civil claim to take the money from him.

Ebert said he borrowed $50,000 in 2007 to buy property in Fiji, but the deal became complicated and was delayed. He spent some of the money on a car and refurbishing his Christchurch house, and in March 2009 he withdrew $34,000 to convert to Fijian currency so that he could go to Fiji and do the deal in cash.

He said the cash was kept at home for about a year, until the police drug raid in March 2010. They found $3357 cash in the console of his car, $9000 in a cassette case on a shelf in his bedroom, $10,000 in a black shopping bag and $3000 in a plastic bag on a coffee table.

They also found 33.1 grams of methamphetamine, with a street value of $33,100, and 47.7g of cannabis. A room had been fitted out as a cannabis-growing area.

Ebert was freed on bail. Police checked his house again two months later and found more methamphetamine and 113.6g of cannabis.

Judge Farish noted that Ebert had served jail terms in 1989 and 2000 for possession of cannabis for supply, and was prosecuted for possession of LSD.

She said it was a serious aggravating feature that he told the police he had the shotgun and ammunition for protection.
- The Press

Unfolding Air Pacific drama could re-ignite global union offensive

As Australia's Qantas airlines tries to duck and weave from the onslaught of public scrutiny and their involvement in the illegal and treasonous drafting of a decree that curtails workers rights in Fiji (that is, not ONLY workers in the aviation sector), another brilliant expose by fellow blog C4.5 catches out more lies from other co-conspirators, this time directly implicating a labour expert from an EU State.

Given the EU's firm stand on Fiji, they need to keep their people in check and no doubt this news will send strong union powers from that corner of the world into an "offensive" frenzy.

Qantas must explain Fiji decree - ACTU
From: AAP
September 30, 2011 3:40PM

UNIONS have stepped up calls for Qantas to clarify its role in allegations its Fijian affiliate airline helped draft a decree dismantling workers' rights in the Pacific nation.

Qantas has a 46 per cent share in Air Pacific, which documents leaked to a blogging website show paid a US legal firm $US24,000 ($24,632) to draft a government decree limiting union influence in Fiji.

ACTU President Ged Kearney said today Australians had a right to know what Qantas knows about Air Pacific's involvement in drafting Fiji's new Essential National Industries (Employment) Decree, which she warned effectively outlawed unions.

The essential industries decree was revealed by the Fijian regime earlier this month and has deeply disappointed local and international unions and human rights organisations, which say it violates international conventions.

It severely limits the ability of workers to protest unfair conditions without a permit, and unions can be fined up to US$56,000 for encouraging any illegal behaviour.

All strikes, slowdowns, industrial action, overtime payments, and union representation in collective bargaining are banned under the decree declared on Friday, the ACTU said.

"Qantas owns almost half of Air Pacific and has two appointments to the Fijian airline's board," Ms Kearney said.

"So the airline should explain what its involvement was in the development of the decree, which has stripped Fijian workers, including Air Pacific employees, of their basic rights.

"If Qantas has nothing to hide, then it has no reason not to explain itself."

Federal Pacific Island affairs parliamentary secretary Richard Marles echoed the union's call for Qantas to explain, labelling the Fiji decree a disgrace.

"Qantas's engagement in Fiji is obviously a matter for Qantas, they're a private company, but I think all Australians and Australian businesses that are engaging in Fiji need to be exercising their own judgment about whether or not their actions benefit the people of Fiji," Mr Marles told ABC Radio on Friday.

"In this circumstance, I think it is completely appropriate that the Australian public hears from Qantas an explanation for how they've exercised their judgment in this case around the essential industries decree."

A Qantas spokesman later told AAP the airline had no comment other than: "Qantas is a minority shareholder in Air Pacific and we have no involvement in the day-to-day running of the airline."