Government by Greed: The Qarase Connection
In the numerous cases of power-play, manipulation and intrigue highlighted in this series, former PM Laisenia Qarase’s name features prominently. There are a number of key roles through which he propagated and facilitated what amounted to a siphoning of funds from the state to a group of connected private individuals in the name of “Fijian business assistance”.
Qarase belonged to a cadre of civil servants who realized their importance in the post-1987 world of topsy-turvy politics. Little is made of the central role these public servants played in keeping the country functioning as factional power-play swept the political landscape in Fiji. Rabuka’s weakness and his continuing tug-of-war with Mara created openings for these bureaucrats to dig in.
Qarase and a host of others thus acquired unshakeable positions. Remember how the debarred and unelected Qoriniase Bale became Attorney General of Fiji virtually for life. The same group again played a key role during Rabuka’s public sector reforms in 1996-99. Then in 2000, it was this same group that held the bureaucracy intact as all kinds of politicians popped up and engaged in horse-trading.
That lot knew what they were playing for; they knew how to access the national coffers under legitimate-looking programs. They knew how to corner, broker and hassle lucrative public contracts. They also knew how to compromise and neutralize all existing and potential opposition. Before George Bush’s “either you are with us or you’re with them” doctrine, that Fiji-made group already operated strictly in terms of Insiders and Outsiders.
Fiji Development Bank
As discussed earlier the (1989-93) Fijian business initiative called EIMCOL was primarily an FDB-funded project that involved identifying small supermarkets, buying them off incumbents and installing Fijian management and ownership. That bellied up big time. Like NBF, FDB was earmarked to play a central role in assisting ethnic Fijians in business.
‘For three years from 1989, loans amounting to $45.4 million were approved for 3,532 Fijians’ (Mara 1997: 221). These affirmative-action programs continued from 1991-99 as the SVT government also allocated $5m for Fijian buyout of freehold lands. Rabuka then purchased Gunac Farm “to train ethnic Fijian youth in commercial farming” from Lyle Cupit for an incredibly inflated $7m ie. $3000/acre.
Cupit held a number of interesting credentials to swing that deal: he was Chairman of FDB and Fijian Holdings Ltd., two key institutions in the scheme of politics at the time. He had also chaired a key parliamentary emoluments committee in 1995 that raised parliamentary pay and allowances to unprecedented levels allowing Rabuka to ward off yet another political crisis in his faction-stricken rule.
Coming back to Qarase, by 1992 he had maneuvered through the Rabuka maze to become CEO of FHL. This was when the plunder of NBF reached its frenetic best as much of the money was used to buy Class A shares in FHL. This issue, a fraud on the Fijian community, was covered in the last Greed article.
Qarase’s involvement with FHL did not end in 1995 when he left the CEO position and moved into FDB as GM. His involvement with assistance schemes simply increased and expanded as he now held directly the money needed to fulfill ever-increasing fast dreams both among his cabal as well as connected stakeholders.
Thus from 1996 Laisenia Qarase reigned at FDB as Managing Director to a board chaired by Navitalai Naisoro. During this stint FDB lost $220m through shoddily secured loans that blatantly overlooked set processes and procedures – this after the NBF debacle! Greed, power-politics and self-interest were indeed on the rampage in Fiji.
Indeed, it appeared that indigenous rights meant the right to ransack the country. Any opportunity that opened up had to be screened and blessed first by the cabal mentioned here. Any interest shown by entrepreneurs had to have “cuts” at different levels for this cabal. And anybody who raised questions was immediately branded as “anti-Fijian”.
Just Give Don’t Ask
The Fijian Affairs Board, despite consistent annual government funding, owed government $33m in outstanding loans at the end of 2001. Earlier, between 1994-99, FAB had gobbled $8m without making any payments. This practice of going soft on Fijian institutions and allowing them virtually free access to government funds can be traced back to 1989 when Rabuka gave FHL $20m.
The Ministry of Fijian Affairs had developed a protocol of disbursing funds to FAB “without contractual agreements to require the Board to provide details of how grants were utilized” (Auditor General’s Report, 2001, p. ii). The same report highlighted that $5m had been given to FAB on 24/8/01 “to accelerate the meaningful participation of Fijians in business”. This money was used to purchase shares in Yasana Holdings Ltd. as awareness and expectations increased and FHL alone could not meet these.
Yasana Holdings Ltd. was incorporated through GCC endorsement in 1994, to “control the television industry in Fiji” amongst other things, on behalf of the 14 provinces and Rotuma. Following a share float in 1996, Fiji Television Ltd’s shareholding became FDB 59%, FPTL 14%, TVNZ 5% and the public 22%. Very interestingly, FDB underwrote this float and passed on its 59% to Yasana Holdings Ltd.
Many other assistance schemes were also in operation as demands for “specialness” escalated. Rabuka’s Commodity Development Framework even included provisions for pay for study abroad. The Poverty Alleviation Grants of the Ministry of Social Welfare was set up and operated without any clear guidelines. As an example, of the 308 projects approved in 2001, only 101 acquittals were received by the Public Accounts Committee.
There was also periodic feeding from the sides. In one case that did not really see the light of day, Octopus Security Services was paid $64,190 between 1999-2001 without referring the arrangement to either the Controller of Government Supplies or the Minor Tenders Board. There were many other cases of this type where questions were treated with dismissal, disdain or hostility.
The 2001 Elections
It has been highlighted that the 2001 elections was won on the back of a $30m agricultural assistance scam by Qarase when he was interim-PM. In fact Dr. Tupeni Baba’s New Labour Unity Party was particularly incensed by some of the goings-on that appeared to show an attempt to compromise the ballot box.
That did indeed become the focus from there onwards. We’ll resume that when meet again!
Right now, we’ve reached the end of the year and I take this opportunity to wish you a Great Christmas and Wonderful 2010.
--
Subhash Appana is an academic and independent political commentator.
Email subhasha@ais.ac.nz
In the numerous cases of power-play, manipulation and intrigue highlighted in this series, former PM Laisenia Qarase’s name features prominently. There are a number of key roles through which he propagated and facilitated what amounted to a siphoning of funds from the state to a group of connected...
In the numerous cases of power-play, manipulation and intrigue highlighted in this series, former PM Laisenia Qarase’s name features prominently. There are a number of key roles through which he propagated and facilitated what amounted to a siphoning of funds from the state to a group of connected private individuals in the name of “Fijian business assistance”.
Qarase belonged to a cadre of civil servants who realized their importance in the post-1987 world of topsy-turvy politics. Little is made of the central role these public servants played in keeping the country functioning as factional power-play swept the political landscape in Fiji. Rabuka’s weakness and his continuing tug-of-war with Mara created openings for these bureaucrats to dig in.
Qarase and a host of others thus acquired unshakeable positions. Remember how the debarred and unelected Qoriniase Bale became Attorney General of Fiji virtually for life. The same group again played a key role during Rabuka’s public sector reforms in 1996-99. Then in 2000, it was this same group that held the bureaucracy intact as all kinds of politicians popped up and engaged in horse-trading.
That lot knew what they were playing for; they knew how to access the national coffers under legitimate-looking programs. They knew how to corner, broker and hassle lucrative public contracts. They also knew how to compromise and neutralize all existing and potential opposition. Before George Bush’s “either you are with us or you’re with them” doctrine, that Fiji-made group already operated strictly in terms of Insiders and Outsiders.
Fiji Development Bank
As discussed earlier the (1989-93) Fijian business initiative called EIMCOL was primarily an FDB-funded project that involved identifying small supermarkets, buying them off incumbents and installing Fijian management and ownership. That bellied up big time. Like NBF, FDB was earmarked to play a central role in assisting ethnic Fijians in business.
‘For three years from 1989, loans amounting to $45.4 million were approved for 3,532 Fijians’ (Mara 1997: 221). These affirmative-action programs continued from 1991-99 as the SVT government also allocated $5m for Fijian buyout of freehold lands. Rabuka then purchased Gunac Farm “to train ethnic Fijian youth in commercial farming” from Lyle Cupit for an incredibly inflated $7m ie. $3000/acre.
Cupit held a number of interesting credentials to swing that deal: he was Chairman of FDB and Fijian Holdings Ltd., two key institutions in the scheme of politics at the time. He had also chaired a key parliamentary emoluments committee in 1995 that raised parliamentary pay and allowances to unprecedented levels allowing Rabuka to ward off yet another political crisis in his faction-stricken rule.
Coming back to Qarase, by 1992 he had maneuvered through the Rabuka maze to become CEO of FHL. This was when the plunder of NBF reached its frenetic best as much of the money was used to buy Class A shares in FHL. This issue, a fraud on the Fijian community, was covered in the last Greed article.
Qarase’s involvement with FHL did not end in 1995 when he left the CEO position and moved into FDB as GM. His involvement with assistance schemes simply increased and expanded as he now held directly the money needed to fulfill ever-increasing fast dreams both among his cabal as well as connected stakeholders.
Thus from 1996 Laisenia Qarase reigned at FDB as Managing Director to a board chaired by Navitalai Naisoro. During this stint FDB lost $220m through shoddily secured loans that blatantly overlooked set processes and procedures – this after the NBF debacle! Greed, power-politics and self-interest were indeed on the rampage in Fiji.
Indeed, it appeared that indigenous rights meant the right to ransack the country. Any opportunity that opened up had to be screened and blessed first by the cabal mentioned here. Any interest shown by entrepreneurs had to have “cuts” at different levels for this cabal. And anybody who raised questions was immediately branded as “anti-Fijian”.
Just Give Don’t Ask
The Fijian Affairs Board, despite consistent annual government funding, owed government $33m in outstanding loans at the end of 2001. Earlier, between 1994-99, FAB had gobbled $8m without making any payments. This practice of going soft on Fijian institutions and allowing them virtually free access to government funds can be traced back to 1989 when Rabuka gave FHL $20m.
The Ministry of Fijian Affairs had developed a protocol of disbursing funds to FAB “without contractual agreements to require the Board to provide details of how grants were utilized” (Auditor General’s Report, 2001, p. ii). The same report highlighted that $5m had been given to FAB on 24/8/01 “to accelerate the meaningful participation of Fijians in business”. This money was used to purchase shares in Yasana Holdings Ltd. as awareness and expectations increased and FHL alone could not meet these.
Yasana Holdings Ltd. was incorporated through GCC endorsement in 1994, to “control the television industry in Fiji” amongst other things, on behalf of the 14 provinces and Rotuma. Following a share float in 1996, Fiji Television Ltd’s shareholding became FDB 59%, FPTL 14%, TVNZ 5% and the public 22%. Very interestingly, FDB underwrote this float and passed on its 59% to Yasana Holdings Ltd.
Many other assistance schemes were also in operation as demands for “specialness” escalated. Rabuka’s Commodity Development Framework even included provisions for pay for study abroad. The Poverty Alleviation Grants of the Ministry of Social Welfare was set up and operated without any clear guidelines. As an example, of the 308 projects approved in 2001, only 101 acquittals were received by the Public Accounts Committee.
There was also periodic feeding from the sides. In one case that did not really see the light of day, Octopus Security Services was paid $64,190 between 1999-2001 without referring the arrangement to either the Controller of Government Supplies or the Minor Tenders Board. There were many other cases of this type where questions were treated with dismissal, disdain or hostility.
The 2001 Elections
It has been highlighted that the 2001 elections was won on the back of a $30m agricultural assistance scam by Qarase when he was interim-PM. In fact Dr. Tupeni Baba’s New Labour Unity Party was particularly incensed by some of the goings-on that appeared to show an attempt to compromise the ballot box.
That did indeed become the focus from there onwards. We’ll resume that when meet again!
Right now, we’ve reached the end of the year and I take this opportunity to wish you a Great Christmas and Wonderful 2010.
--
Subhash Appana is an academic and independent political commentator.
Email subhasha@ais.ac.nz
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