The NFP leader, Biman Prasad, has been charged with serious criminal conduct and his Coalition partner, the Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, says his trial may still be going by the time next year’s election comes around.
It is a political nightmare – the prospect of the NFP having to campaign for re-election with its leader before the courts and doing the traditional “walk of shame” past the cameras, week in, week out.
Anyone with half a strategic brain would have already come to the conclusion that until the case against Biman Prasad has been dealt with and he is acquitted, he needs to stand aside for the good of the party to give his other candidates clear air to try to save their own seats.
After all, he has already stood aside as deputy prime minister and minister for finance for the collective good of the government as a whole. Why hasn’t he stood aside for the collective good of his party?
Answer: Because Biman Prasad clearly has no shame and the party leadership has no brain, certainly judging from the ludicrous comments by Parmod Chand, the NFP’s President. He says the NFP’s support for Biman Prasad is “total and unshakeable” and claims his eleven years as leader have been based on “honesty, integrity, transparency, accountability and good governance”.
Oh really? For God’s sake, man, wake up. We are not dealing with a political martyr here – a human rights crusader fighting for the little guy who has been unfairly targeted and will coast back into office on a wave of public indignation and sympathy.
The charge against BIman Prasad is of dishonesty. Cheating. Of failing to declare a directorship in a company and consequently making a false income declaration to the Elections Office to hide his true financial position. And it carries a maximum penalty of 10-years in jail. Of course, he is entitled to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. But this is an extremely serious matter and Grubsheet understands that other charges may be pending.
At the very least, logic alone dictates that he should stand aside as NFP leader until such time as he is cleared because that is precisely what he has been obliged to do with his senior roles in the government. Or perhaps different standards apply in Fiji’s oldest political party, which boasts of being an “impregnable, principled fortress” yet is in a state of total denial about the existential threat this prosecution poses to its image and the rest of its candidates.
Parmod Chand is a fool to have been so fulsome in his praise for Biman Prasad and especially to categorically rule out him being removed. Why? Because in the way of these things, the Party is eventually going to be forced to jettison him and its President will wind up with egg on his face. Why? Because going into an election under the leadership of someone who is in the full glare of a criminal trial and winning when his innocence has yet to be established would be a world first.
“Only in Fiji” is an old saying we are all familiar with that suggests that standards that apply elsewhere don’t necessarily apply locally. But some things in democratic politics the world over are immutable.
Yes, Manoa Kamikamica is being allowed to remain as Deputy Leader of the People’s Alliance while he faces criminal charges. But he is not the leader and the PAP is already hopelessly compromised by its tolerance for the drug-taking and licentiousness of Lynda Tabuya and the Prime Minister’s refusal to explain the source of his $150,000 gold Rolex.
But for the great party of AD Patel, Siddiq Koya and Jai Ram Reddy to be led into an election by someone accused of lying about his wealth to a nation where most people live below the poverty line is inconceivable, even in Fiji.
What is it with politicians?
They lose all sense of perspective and can’t see the writing on the wall.!
There is more to life fellas: Spend more time with the family
It’s a shame that those close to such egotistical morons are unable to correct such delusions.
Another businessman buddy. Slime balls all. From Labasa to boot.
Parmod Chand- another masi polo of that Dogla – Baimaan. He has to make these statements as he and his son have been appointed to various statutory boards by Baimaan, while Parmod has got Australian residency and a house and business in Brisbane and does frequent trips in and out of the country.
Total hypocrites.
The writing is on the wall for both of you. The people of Fiji and Labasa are fed up. They may be socialising and laughing with you, but don’t forget what everyone is whispering behind your back. You scumbags!
History tells us that NFP does not understand damage control. Hang on to Biman and suffer yet another wipeout. Should have been time to cut Biman loose. If people and party came first Biman would have resigned himself. But he is probably worried about who takes over.
While Biman is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty, the facts already in the public domain lead to a contrary public perception.
Idiocy and character flaws these scumbags wear like a “salusalu” with pride.
They need to be all voted out in 2026.
Good write up GD, there was a grog bowl meeting in LTK this week with Mr Attar Singh, Mr Ranjit Raju( Ratu), Mr P Rai, Mr Kamal Iyer, Mr Faizal Koya, Mr Ahmed Bhamji and few other NFP clowns – guest appearance with Mr Richard Naidu via online link.
One guest present confirmed that NFP will keep marching on, they believe that their supreme leader won’t be convicted (according to super lawyer), all communication needs to portray a soft victim but unfazed strong Leader, Richard to keep Fiji Times in check and the donors have been assured that the other NFP ministers will maintain their interest.
Also mentioned that no NFP people appointed to boards and positions of authority will be affected – this is a process that Rabuka has taken to keep critics at bay and show powerful governance, NFP is still with PAP.
So Richard Naidu is to “keep the Fiji Times in check”. Anywhere else, that would be called corruption. It is time for FICAC to apply the blowtorch to Naidu and bring him to account.
There are hardly any NFP people holding any significant position in this ethno-nationalist government.
Badhiya Baiman only managed to appoint his friends from his inner circle to those boards which come under the ambit of the Ministry of Finance. Additionally, he managed to push his cronies Jagganath Sami and Faizal Koya as ambassadors to India and UAE respectively. Jagganath Sami is a resident of New Zealand having migrated there years ago. There’s a famous photo of Baiman signing off the black label whiskey with Sami at an event in Auckland.
Besides this, he didn’t appoint or push any NFP nominee to the boards which fall under the ambit of PAP and SODELPA ministers. On the contrary, PAP and SODELPA Ministers were able to push their nominees to the boards which came under Badhiya Baiman.
Badhiya Baiman was only interested in the DPM and Finance portfolio. That’s why he – and by extension – NFP didn’t negotiate anything substantial during the post-election coalition agreement talks. Look at Lenora – one of the most esteemed, eloquent and capable party MP’s – merely given an Assistant Ministerial post when she rightly fully deserved an important ministerial position.
By contrast, SODELPA got a better deal than NFP. Why? Because SODELPA pushed and fought for a better deal. As for NFP – besides the finance portfolio – they happily settled for the crumbs.
Disagree with this about few NFP people on boards etc – most boards have an NFP person.
eg FNPF Board – Daksesh Patel, Attar Singh, Adish Naidu,
ATH Board- Attar Singh, Vilash Singh,
ATS Board – Shradha sharma,
Post Fiji Board – Sadasivan Naicker, Ritesh Singh,
FRCS Board – Nitin Gandhi and Ceo Udit Singh etc etc.
There are many NFP people in different positions so disagree that there aren’t many.
I stand by my assertion that there aren’t many NFP people and I have to disagree with you.
The boards you’ve listed – FNPF, ATH and FRCS, including FDB for instance – they all come under the ambit of Ministry of Finance. I had already mentioned that Badhiya Baiman only managed to appoint his inner circle of friends to boards which come under his jurisdiction.
As for Post Fiji Board, Sadasivan Naicker is PAP appointee.
NFP bus is about to crash completely and will be obliterated in 2026. Most itaukei will vote for PAP while Chaudhry will get all NFP votes plus most ex-FFP votes (west, in particular)
Pio, Sashi, Agni and Lenora should jump into another runaway bus now before Biman’s court appearances bring continued disrepute and shame in coming months.
Biman Prasad posting a photo on Facebook of himself with a young child he was dropping off to kindy a day or two after his resignation: His fans who praised him see him as a great man. On the contrary I observe him as manipulating the situation and using a 4 or 5 year old to ” launder ” (clean and polish) his tainted image.
Disgusting. Kids used as pawns and props to present a soft yet strong man of the people leader should be off limits. Most decent people with class will know this themselves. Yet there are the gullible who are fooled by the theatrics and spin that the NFP party machine will be putting into overdrive.
Hmmm…keep children away from him. Especially females.
Anyone who knows about Baimaan and his days at USP will tell you that thus MF was into the “sex for grades” and preyed on many vulnerable female students.
Old habits die hard and you just have to look at what he did to that Tanaguchi lady – pursuing and harassing her with inappropriate messages knowing full well she was married. So you can imagine what this sex predator got up to whilst in a position of power at USP.
NFP’s meagre post election pickings reflect meagre and poor leadership. As ‘NFP badia party’ points out, Baiman was only concerned about the DPM and finance ministry positions. A failed and selfish leader who has ended up where he deserves.
The ones to benefit the most are his cronies like Attar Singh, Parmod and Richard Naidu. People like Sashi Kiran, Lenora and Pio don’t owe Baiman loyalty because he failed not only them, but the party as well. It’s downright stupid to be loyal to a poor and failed leader.
The party must come first not the leader. In this case Parmod has put the leader before the party. He should get his arse kicked as well.
The party will end up just like Biman. In the dustbin of history.
Not directly relevant to this topic but I consider it important . Read this – from a so called senior and reputable lawyer with high ethical standards.
“There is a constant struggle that we seem to have in Fiji with upholding and respecting the rule of law, and in my view, I think it starts at the top”.
These are the “words of wisdom” from Wylie Clark preaching to his disciples of FLS at their conference. Is someone going to enlighten this wanker.
There was a reason why the FFP government had taken away most of the powers of FLS, and now you can see why. This buffoon cannot hold professional standards and they want to be the voice and regulatory body for all lawyers in Fiji.
Humpty Dumpty Party sat on a wall
Humpty Baimaan had a great fall
All the Coalition’s men and women
couldn’t wouldn’t bring
Humpty fraud
back again!
Humpty Dumpty Party
What a Shame
Bigots -big and small
Mirror Mirror
On the Viti Wall
Whose the biggest liar of them all ?
Aarre Baba
Too many to foretell
Humpty Dumpty
will never sit on any wall.
is this not the same guy who agitated for an automated bus ticketing system and then proceeded to rubbish it?
On a scale of 1 to 10 – how nonsensical is this guy?
On the hand – Baimaan’s charges may be a masterstroke by Self Loving Rabuka. Already social media is abuzz with Hindis crying foul (not the murgi fowl) that a Hindi leader is getting short shrift. More support then flocks to NFP
How nonsensical? Generally nitwits, dimwits, and/or insane. Most live low empty lonely often sad lives surrounded by money and power. They just don’t know it.
As for many NFP supporters crying foul, no matter how many there may be, we know fowl have chicken brains.
Birds of feathers flock together with chicken brains to comfort each other.
Badia Baiman’s journey from a preening rooster to a feather duster has been hilariously short.
Badia baiman contiues to entertain us all being a dolt. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer badia baiman.
BTW Sashi Kiran got into parliament for the late Allan Lockington was her campaign manager – 90% of her vote would have come from people who admired Allan.
Next election she will be goneski!
The free aid that FRIEND Fiji handed out, especially in the West would have bought her a lot of votes. People like freebies and Robin Hood. Overseas and local donors undoubtedly enabled her to get into parliament – as an unintended outcome of the millions of aid funding FRIEND Fiji received and the grateful aid recipient voters who swung their vote to her.
Maybe you are getting direct briefings from the office of the acting Commissioner, but I am pretty sure that the one charge against Prasad is not a ‘false income declaration’ as you say but failing to disclose a directorship.
That’s not nothing for someone who was Minister of Finance until earlier this week and a former professor of Economics. But it’s not the same as being accused of hiding ‘his true financial position’.
I know how much accuracy means to you journalistically. You have a duty of care to your readers’ emotions as well.
Obviously more charges may follow, as you point out, and it’s reasonable to presume he is innocent until proven guilty.
If we know anything from the operation of FICAC since 2008 it is a lot easier to write up a charge than it is to land a conviction.
Charlie, if you don’t declare a directorship of a company that is providing you with income, that is a false income declaration. And of course, you are “hiding your true financial position”. But I have altered the line in question to make it more precise and accommodate your fastidious sensibilities. Sheesh. Even the likes of Stanley Simpson are casting it as a false asset declaration.
Are you now the matanivanua for Biman Prasad as well as Wylie Clarke? And what’s all this nonsense about ‘having a duty of care to my reader’s emotions”? To protect them from what? From getting upset when I suggest that he should resign as NFP leader?
I have said repeatedly that Biman Prasad is entitled to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. But I notice that you have no compunction in your final line in casting doubt on whether the charges against him will stick. We shall see.
The point of this article is that politicians charged with serious criminal conduct should stand aside until their innocence has been established, whether as members of a government or leaders of political parties seeking the public’s trust. You know full well that it is routine in countries like Britain and Australia and it ought to be routine in Fiji.
Baimaan, the traitor who was the Kingmaker in the formation of Coalition Government did not have the balls to negotiate and demand more for his support base. He had the balance of power in the early days….He is the biggest lamusona. Even farmers in his own place of birth know this . He was only there for himself and his circle of friends….Come 2026 , no one will know there ever existed a party known as NFP.
ATTENTION CHARLIE CHARTERS:
Your latest comment in response to the above amounts to a crude attempt to prejudge the FICAC cases against Biman Prasad and Manoa Kamikamica in their favour and is disallowed on legal grounds.
It is quite clear what you are attempting to do in this instance and with your attacks on the CoI. It is to muddy the waters and sow doubt to try to sabotage due process and the proper administration of justice.
Now bugger off.
Hahahaha! Bugger off white long oaf!
Sorry Gd, if I got a little emotional there! LMAO!