A major investigation for The Economist – one of the world’s most prestigious magazines – has revealed the full extent of the hold on Fiji of the South Korean doomsday cult, Grace Road.
As Daniel Kim – the local leader of Grace Road and son of its founder – continues to chalk up wins in the courts to prevent his extradition, The Economist investigates the cult’s insidious influence on Fijian politics and the criminal justice system and the stranglehold it now has on the economy.
The South Korean government continues to seek the extradition of Daniel Kim and his top associates, who are wanted for alleged crimes in South Korea. But Fiji has been stalling. Why? It’s all here in the following exposé by New Zealand-based reporter Peter McKenzie.
He reveals that Grace Road is now so emboldened that it stands accused of stealing land from the iTaukei. But it is able to get away with it because Fijians are so hooked on Grace Road’s local businesses – from ice cream parlours to hair salons, from dentists to petrol stations.
A marathon read but a must-read for every Fijian concerned about the nation’s direction and how money and influence is buying protection for alleged criminals posing as religious leaders who are wanted in their own country but have found a safe haven in Fiji.
Investigative journalism at its best.
Despite all the bluster from Rabuka about getting rid of Grace Roads (GR) and everything associated with it, nothing has been done.
The reality is that GR have already infiltrated this government officials with bribes, and they will not do anything. As long as the money flows from GR into the private coffers of the government officials, they get to stay in Fiji.
Digressing, I will admit that I have eaten at their restaurants and they make damn good food.
This GRACE ROAD INVESTOR CULT MOVEMENT must be removed from FIJI asap, due to its long term strategy goal, to conquer, govern and rule the indigenous Fijians – its leaders want to use the cash economy as a mean to conquer the itaukei, and with its understatement that we are not smart to run our land resources.
They MUST be stopped and repatriate back to their home land south korea to face justice, all their investments in Fiji to be tendered to local business people like Carpenters, FNPF, Damodar City, Sports City (Fiji Public Servants Association), RB Patel, to manage them with government’s assurance of good governance and transparency.
Kaiviti-Not Happy says …use the cash economy as a mean to conquer the itaukei, and with its understatement that we are not smart to run our land resources…
Prove them wrong. Use your land resources, start a business, become rich beyond your wildest dreams.
Whatever the political situation of GT and allegations of bribery and corruption, nothing has been proved in Fiji.
Are GR they clean?” Who knows. How clean are all the local conglomerates? Because only GR by itself cannot feed the greed in government.
Savua was commissioner, Tudravu was commissioner of police, naivalurua was commissioner, qilihio was commissioner, and now tudravu AGAIN is commissioner. Kryst. Do you see a pattern? All itaukei commissioners.
NONE of them found anything proof of corruption against GR.
Innocent until proven guilty. Not the other way around as itaukei have become used to when it comes to other races.
Fiji by the throat?
Maybe it’s Mr Kim has you deep throat? Hahaha
An article so detached from the reality in Fiji. Obviously jumped on by someone so out of touch with reality and whose LinkedIn profile highlights his involvement with an illegal regime. So sad. Nothing he did in the 4 decades prior was of any importance that his CV highlight was working for an illegal regime. A leech and wannabe relevant has been.
Was a nobody and will die a nobody. Your grave will have ASOL on it. A senile old leech.
Hahaha. Yet you come and read the “senile old leech’s” postings. Keep reading them. You might learn something. Idiot.
@vonu tatt- Is that you Lind Dah! Ha ha! You spent you name wrong too, proper spelling is Vonu Tatti
On the same note GR has improved the restaurant business in Fiji.
Now common Fijians can experience the same environment they can only see in Denarau or overseas.
Restaurants or side cafes have to improve their experience to stay competitive.
Yes, it took the British to bring health and education to Fiji and try to install notions of proper governance and it has taken a South Korean “end of days” cult to teach you proper standards of serving food.
No-one is suggesting that Grace Road be removed from Fiji altogether, though it would have been better had they never been allowed to come in the first place. But those wanted to face criminal charges in South Korea shouldn’t be allowed to stay.
The article highlights repeated instances of abuse of their own people in Fiji and of Fijians, including an instance in which Grace Road stole land from an iTaukei. If you think that’s acceptable, why all the fuss about protecting iTaukei land?
We already know the answer to that. Lavo/ Paisa. It speaks all languages but rarely more so than in Fiji.
It’s not just locals that focus on the positives of Grace Road because of the quality of produce and standard of service and facilities they bring to Fiji, it is also the Expats and tourists/visitors. Grace Road have really filled several void that needed to be filled.
Many are hoping that the cult arm of the group can be dealt with separately to allow the business arm of the group to continue in Fiji.
Bula vinaka VonuTatt; at least GD provides an interesting and informative insight in comparison to the unprofessional and corrupt self serving media in Fiji.
Use the same enthusiasm to get the senile media in Fiji to start doing their job, kerekere. But it’s a good thing that you browse this column to glean stuff that you wouldn’t otherwise have known. 👍🏽😂
They have set a high standard of service and the consumers both local and tourist are happy. Their religion is their business.
Beating up the locals is not.
I once bought pizza from Sunny Pizza. It was expensive.
Good Report
But G.D
At least they have not done what the British had ….
Why hasn’t Biman ever spoken about suing the British government of the crime they committed against the Indians that were brought into Fiji with false promises…
I hope everyone can be compensated ….look at the mess they have left behind….
There are so much I can write about it but compared to the 2 issues here…we all know which shines better…
But I don’t condone violence…The law of the country is Paramount
That’s an absolutely long read. Rather boring compared to the to the point we used to on Grubsheet. An informative read, nevertheless.
Have you heard about Gloriavale in NZ? They don’t go all out but they slave and abuse their followers. Brainwashed and sex abuse follows. They have recently been exposed and taken to court.
I think Grace Road is the same. They seem harmless on the surface but deep down the abuse is widespread. And as someone said, their bribery speaks volumes.
Thank you for sharing GD.
Keep this up and ol Danny boy will turn that place into Graceland.
Thank you, thank you very much!
I’d eat from Grace Road any day without a question. I’d go to their dentist anytime. They have better service than any buisness in Fiji.
However this definitely is an interesting read.
Fijians are still stuck to Rabuka who destroyed Fiji so I’m sure I can eat at Grace without guilt.
See what one can achieve with” systems”, “rules” and “discipline”.
Until the last few seconds of human history, there was slavery. No pay, only chow and hard work morning to dusk, until there was light, now morning to midnight.
… my point, all the great civilizations and Empires built on more or less free labour until democracy.
Land and Labour = prosperity.
iTaukei, locally know as Fijians, have land and labour.
They had a system and were wealthy. Every man between 18 – 50?, had to have a farm, so many uvi, kava, dalo, and some pig food called cassava.
Every cultural event was a smorgasbord of food and the tribute in food and mats and tapa was mountain high. Not a government department in sight or tax dollar spent except for the vulagi visitors, government..
Now nothing !
300,000 – 400,000 have left our shores replaced by 400 Koreans, and they are building an Empire?! Good for them, 400 shareholders with their shoulders to the wheel showing what is possible, quite the Matagali aye, what an eye opener.
54 years of itaukei political leadership, 55 years of independence and sovereignty and 38 ?years of suggestions to re-introduce the ” Buli System” , the Fijian Administration regulations on village life.
Nothing !
If villages- matagalis, tokatoka, freely and democratically chose to re-introduce a way of life, what has the government got to give them? Without laws and regulations to support this way of life, there can be no discipline to regulate the system that will allow them to thrive, a proven system that worked for a hundred years under colonial rule.
in my opinion, there is a class of people, the bureaucrats, civil servants, that where educated and sent from their villages to make it in the so called modern world and they did just that. Pride of families and clans, welcomed back home every Christmas as honoured dignitaries, given the high table, red carpet treatment and as well as it should be, they have been supporting families back in the village all year with the TMO ( telegraphic money order, n Mpaisa).
But this class has absolutely no interest in brother Tevita, or Vili or Jiaoji getting ahead as a lowly villager and becoming a well to do farmer that challenges the whole concept of “well to do “returning brother,son”.
Not going to happen, that is why in my opinion agriculture, fisheries, forestry has declined since independence. Any support is designed to fail without fail.
There is the odd shooting star, but that does not save a country, its rural communities and its cultural base.
If Grace Road should have the effect of removing scales from eyes, that would be a positive, maybe their story could be part of folk law for some village in the future that prospers from their example, without the slavery, oops shareholding in future profits.
Ian, I hadn’t realised until I read the feature in the Fiji Times that you appear to be the father of the saintly Alona and grandfather to the Miracle Boy, Oscar.
If so, then I will treat you with a lot more indulgence than I have in the past. What a lovely family. Well done.
GD,
You are mistaken, there is no saintly Alona and miracle child Oscar in my family but there is a Diane, Mark, Camilla and 6 grandchildren that are all magnificent and a proud testament to my deceased wife Lorraine Macomber of Taveuni, my Unicorn.
I hope I retain your indulgence. ( Smiley/Wink)
My apologies. A case of mistaken identity. But my indulgence continues.
On a different topic altogether- Rabuka the PIG is in the news for saying Fiji is committed to regional stability. For fu@k sake…this imbecile doesn’t have his own house in order!!!
He claims Fiji is a “stable strategic thinker”. Does this clown even know what he is saying?
Hey a$$hole, how about you focus on fixing Fiji and getting rid of the corruption, nepotism, and racism before trying to become a strategic player in the Pacific.
If anything, you and your monkey ministers are definitely leading the way for all the wrong reasons.
I guess all the sucking, licking, and milking of illegal Fijians in the USA has got this RAT insanely deluded.
The list of businesses is incomplete, they are running more than 20 individual business entities.
When GR started, we considered them an oddity, but respected their way of doing things. They had a clear vision. Sundays the restaurants were closed, no alcohol or fizzy drinks on their premises. What you paid in slight inconvenience, they made up for with great food and service.
Now all the rules have gone out the window, they’re just another restaurant/ supermarket/ coffee shop. The quality and consistency has taken a nosedive.
They got into the market with incentives and without paying taxes, once their foothold was established, they spread and became just another For Profit organization. Which I don’t have a problem with. But how they got their start and were able to undercut others, especially in the construction industry, was unfair. And the ubiquity seems fishy, because the volume simply cannot be there to justify another GR Supermarket every 500m. Even with their inflated prices.
We’re joking that every new building in and around Nadi will either be a GR or DMC.
And people crawing on about how they brought overseas standards to Fiji. Who needed that? You want Australian standards, go to Australia. People always realize too late the price they paid for convenience or “safety”.
GR is not an eye opener. They couldn’t be bothered with Fiji, if it wasn’t for us all being gullible.
Someone: all those who want to succeed must stand up.
Rabuka: who to suck
That’s our government and PM. A full time fool.
What happened to those probes promised and launched by the Government?
https://www.fijitimes.com.fj/probe-into-land-deals-vosarogo-grace-road-church-made-31-acquisitions/
https://fijilive.com/not-a-witch-hunt-kamikamica/