Deputy Prime Minister Professor Biman Prasad says he is accountable only to the Prime Minister and to Fijian taxpayers and not to unscrupulous politicians with gutter-level comments.
Responding to the Leader of the Opposition Inia Seruiratu and the Leader of the Fiji Labour Party Mahendra Chaudhry’s comments on the allocation of $200,000 to the Global Girmit Institute, Prof Prasad said it is abundantly clear that detractors of the Coalition Government are resorting to gutter politics because they cannot digest the resounding success of the Girmit Day commemoration including the International Girmit Conference.
He said the money was given to the Global Girmit Institute not as a payout, but as a grant specifically for the conference, under an agreement vetted by the Solicitor-General’s Office.
“Both Seruiratu and Chaudhry claimed that the grant paid to the Institute was because that my wife Dr Rajni Chand is a trustee of the Global Girmit Institute. Seruiratu also claimed that the money was also given directly to my wife.”
“This is lunacy. If the Ministry of Finance releases a grant to USP where Dr Rajni Chand is employed, does it mean that I am giving money to her and not to USP.”
Prof Prasad said this malicious claim is similar to that of the National Economic Summit with the estimated budget of $360,000.
He said that both the Leader of the Opposition and the former Prime Minister now have found another issue to spew lies on and run commentaries.
“They are completely bereft of political morality and credibility. The problem with Seruiratu is that he is a puppet of his political masters, who are no longer in Parliament. But that is his choice. If he wants to be acid-tongued and belligerent, he is only fast-tracking his own political demise.”
“Of course, Mahendra Chaudhry’s political track record is no secret. Here is a person who employed his son as his private secretary and claimed housing allowance when staying in his own house as Prime Minister. Therefore, this shows that Chaudhry is only good at nit-picking. This is being thoroughly dishonest.”
He added that the Ministry of Finance will soon release how much was used on the Girmit celebrations.
