Everything that is wrong with the Coalition government – its amorality, greed and disregard for proper conduct and the feelings of the Fijian people – are encapsulated in the admission by Lynda Tabuya that she claimed taxpayer’s money as per diems or daily living allowances for her recent visit to South Australia and was then able to pocket that money because her Fijian hosts paid her expenses.
Let’s be clear about what has happened here. This is a fat-cat politician who also happens to be a millionaire exploiting not just taxpayers in Fiji but leeching off the hard-earned wages of ordinary Fijians struggling to make a living overseas to support their families back home.
It is a classic case of double-dipping – of pocketing her daily allowance as extra cash while exploiting the hospitality of generous-hearted PALM workers in South Australia who picked up the tab for her entire visit.
No wonder they have expressed shock at the news that having provided her with food and accommodation, they have since discovered from the Prime Minister’s answer to a parliamentary question that she claimed more than $11,500 in expenses from the government.
It is obscene and completely unacceptable – arguably an even bigger offence against accepted norms in Fiji than the litany of scandals perpetrated by Lynda Tabuya in office, which anywhere else, would have already seen her driven from public life.
1/ In August 2023, enticing her fellow Minister, Aseri Radrodro, in the dead of night from the bed he was sharing with his wife, Sainiana, in Melbourne’s Windsor Hotel to Tabuya’s Room 233, where in her own words, they had such “brutal” sex that she was unable to walk properly the following day.
2/ Leaked text messages that have been accepted as authentic by Lynda Tabuya’s own colleagues in the PAP telling Radrodro that she was getting “drunk” on Jack Daniels whiskey and “high” on “weed” – marijuana, the possession of which is a criminal offence in Victoria and in Fiji.
3/ Lynda Tabuya lying to both the public and the People’s Alliance disciplinary committee which investigated the allegations against her, denying what had taken place. The PAP, under the signature of the Prime Minister himself, eventually found her guilty of a “sex and illicit drug scandal” and stripped her of the deputy leadership of the party.
4/ Tabuya’s subsequent action in making a pornographic video flaunting her celebrated “bush and butt” when she was Co-Chair of the government’s Task Force on Pornography and the nation’s principal anti-porn crusader. It cost her the portfolio of Minister for Women, Children and Social Protection but she played victim – turning the attack over her licentious conduct on some of her critics and sooling the police onto them for allegedly invading her privacy.
5/ Lynda Tabuya’s blatant lie in under-reporting her income to the Elections Office by attesting that she and her multi-millionaire husband, Rob Semaan, had been divorced since 2016 when they are very much married and frequently appear in public as a couple.
Even if there was a formal parting, the Ashton-Lewis Commission of Inquiry has suggested that it was a “sham divorce” intended to deceive. Semaan is the wealthy co-owner of Fiji’s biggest construction firm, Pacific Building Solutions. And along with rumours that they have kept the Prime Minister afloat financially in the past, the couple has pointedly failed to deny speculation that they gave Sitiveni Rabuka his gold Rolex watch.
Despite (or because of) all of this, Sitiveni Rabuka brought Lynda Tabuya back into the cabinet as Minister for Information to be the Coalition’s voice in the lead-up to next year’s election. Yet she has now rewarded him by embroiling the government in yet another scandal – claiming per diems when her meals and accommodation have already been paid for by unknowing ordinary Fijian workers.
They, and we, have every right to feel shock and betrayal at the greed displayed by this appalling individual -a millionaire with all the trappings of wealth who double dips on her expenses – slugging the taxpayer and at the same time, slugging those trusting enough to lay on meals and accommodation for her as she enriches herself behind their backs.
Did Lynda Tabuya offer to give her per diem payments to the ordinary men and women in South Australia who dug deep into their own pockets to accommodate her to help them reduce the cost of hosting a government minister for Fiji Day? Of course not. Her entire existence is based on self enrichment at the expense of others. And the evidence for that is that when the Tabuya-Semaans lived in the US in the noughties, she and her husband left ordinary American investors in her failed fat-busting business out of pocket to the tune of more than $100-million Fijian dollars.
What happened to all that money and where is Tabuya’s money coming from now? Answer: Partly from the huge salary increases for government ministers and other MPs she personally engineered as Chair of Parliament’s Emoluments Committee. And from her husband’s wealth as Fiji’s biggest builder and the recipient of a string of lucrative government contracts, including the GCC Building and Labasa Airport.
Did she really need to rip off the ordinary Fijians who hosted her for Fiji Day, taking their food and accommodation without telling them that she was double-dipping and also claiming the cost of that hospitality from the Fijian taxpayer? Of course not. But that’s Lynda Tabuya for you. Greedy, dishonest, immoral and bereft of scruples or principle.
She has become a symbol of the Coalition’s profligacy and greed – someone totally without shame. And unless the Prime Minister wants her cancerous influence to destroy his government’s reputation altogether, he must do what he should have done after the antics in Room 233 – cut Tabuya loose altogether.
Her protestation that she was legally entitled to claim her per diems isn’t the point. She took money from the Fijian taxpayer for living expenses that had already been covered by the Mums and Dads of the Limestone Coast. And in doing so, has showed shocking contempt for the ordinary people the Coalition government pledged to govern for but who have been exploited by a Minister who must go if Sitiveni Rabuka is to retain even a shred of credibility in the election lead-up.
She must be sent to the backbench immediately to join Manoa Kamikamica and Biman Prasad – a trio of miscreants, with perhaps others to come, who will remind every Fijian voter in the months ahead of the abject failure of this government to meet even the most basic standards of proper conduct.
Time’s up for the Queen of Tarts. And the reputation of the entire government and especially her patron, the Prime Minister, now hangs in the balance.
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From Labour Party leader and former prime minister, Mahendra Chaudhry.
A reminder of the Prime Minister’s disclosure of the $11,000 plus paid to Lynda Tabuya for her trip.
And of the shock of the Fijian community on the Limestone Coast.
Lynda Tabuya’s defence: “I was entitled to claim expenses and I did”.
Some of the outcry on Facebook.
And finally, some of the people Lynda Tabuya exploited. They were totally unaware that having contributed to hosting her on the Limestone Coast, she was claiming money from the government for her daily expenses.
The failure of the Fijian media to appropriately apply the blowtorch to Lynda Tabuya over this scandal speaks volumes for the negligence and complicity of our senior journalists. The aforementioned stories in the two dailies are a justification for the South Australia visit as a whole, not the issue of the Minister double-dipping on her expenses.
The declaration of a “free media” in Fiji since the lifting of the last government’s restrictions is a myth. It has been replaced by self-censorship based on personal relationships and the Coalition shamelessly buying off media outlets with public funding.
We can only imagine the pressure Lynda Tabuya will be wielding behind the scenes using her power as Information Minister to suppress or lessen the impact of the double-dipping scandal.
The evidence so far is that she, and they, are engaged in a cover-up. And they can demonstrate otherwise by finally doing their jobs properly, starting with reporting Mahendra Chaudhry’s statement and interviewing Tema Rasoki Windust and and Mere Tauvoli, the two women who have made statements on social media that the mainstream media is so far ignoring.
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“Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future”.
Until Judgment Day. Election ’26 or the afterlife. Take your pick, Prime Minister.
Actually, she’s wrong in saying she is legally entitled to ‘standard’ per diem allowances: many a civil servant has been sanctioned/suspended in the past if they double dipped – the same rule applies to Ministers.
If this ain’t a case for FICAC, what is? Oh wait, I forgot, Madam is the chosen one to lead Fiji into a bright future…I’ll just go get the popcorn to watch the inaction on the part of our political ‘leadership’…
This is a clear case of double dipping and needs to be investigated by FICAC due to the “Public Interest” it has generated.
As per Regulations, she is entitled to upgrade to Business Class but NO per diem to cater for accommodation and meals as this is provided for by the host.
That is the rule but what do we expect from this Government which is known for illegal/immoral acts throughout their rank and file. This Government happens to be above the law when it comes to scrutiny and accountability.
The modern day rich bigger in the garb of a politician.
We have a doddering, dimwitted, dumb, old, and infirm PM incapable of doing anything right or substantial. A smart arse who likes making one liners, such as ‘there is no saint without a past and no sinner without a future’ in reference to bringing Lynda back as a Minister.
Sometime back when asked who gave him permission to stage the coup, Rolex Rabaku quipped, ‘I gave myself permission.’ He must have felt very clever saying that.
Screw you and your wisecracking, you old fool.
Voters need to send Rabaku to the sin bin in the next election, or better still, to the old people’s home. How’s that for wisecracking, Rabaku?
This will be another “Every saint has a past , every Sinner a future” story from the PM and acceptable to most of the gullible of the same kind and filed away in the shredder – and the same story to be repeated again and again.
This minister has no conscience at all. She will “rob” and eat an ice cream from a toddler and charge the parents of the screaming kid for it.
There’s a song for Tabuya and all roaming Fiji government MPs on their numerous junkets
‘I Still Call Fiji by Phone’ (apologies to Peter Allen ..I still call Australia home )
Wonder if NFP will remain silent on this matter.
Of course it will. When was the last time it stood up for principle on anything? And now its leader is on trial for corruption himself.
The nfp will remain in self-induced pall insofar as calling out corrupt conduct by this coalesced coalition of the unwilling.
The sole purpose of every member is to pocket as much money as possible as quickly as possible.
Fijian electorate be damned. These fluckers are too aware that the bigot vote is locked in for 2026.
The treasonous bastard who stole democracy is the biggest thief and bigot of them all.
She’s nothing special.
Asset-rich, low on cash, maybe. It happens.
I know many more beautiful, ethical, intelligent, well-off Fijian woman – with high standards.
Sa rauti i’o mada. Du’a levu. Lao.
Will Archbishop Peter Loy Chong stay silent as well. He seemed to express his social conscience views against bad governance without fear under the previous dictatorial and oppressive regime.
Has the clergy been silenced too under the new found freedoms of nationalism or are they accommodating sinners so that they can eventually become saints….once they have finished emptying the state treasury of wealth and morals.
See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. Lest the church lose funding via the congregants.
Our dear parched bishop is no Pope Leo. Sadly, the ethno-nationalists now dominate the church that routinely confuse culture and worshipping the one true God.
The PM was not aware that Lynda’s travel and accommodation in WA was paid for the ‘great unwashed’ there.
He will ask for more details.
He doesn’t need more details. She applied for and received her per diem. That is double dipping. The evidence is all there.
What’s that word starting with B which rhymes with witch?
She should be treated no different from people like Niko, Ratu Suli and others who claimed money they were not entitled to and went to jail.
Let’s not be selective in our condemnation of the double dipping cabal. The smart arse rabaku is also guilty of it. Not only this time but several times prior to this jaunt the hosts paid for most of his lavish expenses but despite this baku always claimed his full per diems and roughly has earned at least anywhere between 1 to 2 million dollars travel on top of his perks and salary in Fiji.
It is for this reason that rabaku will not lift his f**ked up legs to get ficac to kitchim popi lynda. (As he does to anyone who he decides to throw under the bus when they reach their expiry date. Manoa, Biman ring any bells??)
Baku knows that if gets his Cakaudrove FICAC bitch to go after Lynda for double dipping then he is toast as well cos baku and his entourage’s trip to Sydney was funded to some extent by the hosts as well. Yet he too claimed his per diems. The slimy outlaw bastard.
I wonder if the ever victim/sanctimonious Niko Naiwaikula will say anything against Lynda, Buka and others about this latest criminal embarrassment by this outlaw government. On second thoughts I don’t think the racist dog Niko will raise any objections cos he was guilty of the same thing himself…yet to this day he tries to evade the whole issue.
So no luck old chap. Lynda will carry on stumbling and f**king her way to the next elections cos her enabler and Satan’s viceroy on earth, who happens to be born in Cakaudrove fiji, won’t let the FICAC dogs loose on Lynda.
Yet another scandal in fiji that’s staring everyone in their faces and the complicit prostitute Fijian media won’t do anything about asking the hard questions about it. Rabuka will keep on making smart arse comments that don’t make any sense and the media will just grin and run with his first sound byte without asking solid follow up questions.
Let’s just wait for Yet another scandal next week shall we.That’s unless the baku kicks the tanoa this weekend. I’m saving some Diwali fireworks for when that happens.
In the meantime, get ready for some stories about our bera na liva Pedo President’s next leg of his world tour in India. I wonder what embarrassment he will cause us there as he tries very hard to hide his racism from the ethnic community he hates the most in his own country. Maybe as I hope he will ironically kick the tanoa in India.
If the travel allowances (per diems) go over and above actual costs of claimable expenses incurred in the course of work related travel – shouldn’t the extra “income” be taxable as income tax or Fringe Benefit Allowance Tax.
Let’s hope the payroll team or finance departments within the relevant ministries are on to it so that there is no tax obligation avoidance by the recipient, due to oversight. At the least the recipient should declare it at end of year tax return if payroll does not deduct at time of payment, which I think it would not. Reference to the Supervisor of Elections case but that was an issue of income tax and not allowances/ benefits that the supervisor of E received.
To add further salt on the taxpayer – it’s one thing to double dip and then to not pay a single dip of tax?!
Do we really think any amount of pontificating by Grubsheet and its patrons will make an iota of difference to this lot? Don’t think so.
Fiji votes on the basis of ethnicity and not able, just and fair governance
Until a leader is elected and is allowed to lead the country where everyone is equally treated and the rule of law prevails, nothing will change.
The current PM had the opportunity to right the wrongs of 87 and go down in history as a statesman and make Fiji like, say, Mauritius.
Instead the current path is leading us to the likes of Haiti.
Think of what the nation will be like in another 10 years of ethnocentric rule and make the call.
Do you really wish this lot and their ilk on your children and grandchildren?
Think about it.
Congratulations to all the Fijians who voted for her.
Eat chow noodles and be happy. At least your politicians are having it great.
https://www.finance.gov.fj/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Per-Diem-Circular-No.-02-2023-2024.pdf
Has all the answers! Go figure!