The lawyer and NFP stalwart, Richard Naidu, isn’t happy with Donald Trump‘s election victory and asks whether the American people are joking. Yet the Fijian people are equally entitled to ask Naidu whether he and his colleagues in the NFP are joking when they promised better standards of governance yet have fallen so woefully short of the mark.
The party’s failure – its betrayal, say its critics – to stand up to its Coalition partners over the use of the term vulagi – visitor – to describe non-indigenous Fijians has been covered at length in these columns. Yet there are equally serious questions about the circumstances in which the NFP leader, Biman Prasad, was able to avoid being charged by FICAC and what role, if any, Richard Naidu played in that. And in Francis Puleiwai‘s removal from the corruption watchdog and the installation of Barbara Malimali as Commissioner, the circumstances of which are to be examined by the Supreme Court judge, Justice David Ashton-Lewis.
Then, of course, is the continuing question as to why – as Chair of the government’s Fiscal Review Committee – Richard Naidu recommended a seven year tax holiday for Fiji Water without publicly declaring that the global giant was a client of his law firm, Munro Leys. This represented a glaring conflict of interest which multiple other lawyers have told Grubsheet Naidu was obliged to disclose.
First, Richard Naidu’s comment on Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election:
Now the series of questions I posed in an open letter to Richard Naidu on October 1 to which he has so far chosen not to respond.
——————–
——————–
In the context of the forthcoming inquiry into the Malimali-Puleiwai affair, the questions about Richard Naidu’s role, if any, in enabling Biman Prasad to avoid being charged by FICAC are the most pressing. Here’s what we reported on October 1:
It is now also more than a year since Richard Naidu sent Grubsheet the following letter threatening to sue me for, among other things, comments I made about his conduct as a public official. And that’s precisely what he is, having taken the role of Chair of the Coalition’s Fiscal Review Committee. As such, it would naturally form an important part of my defence were Richard Naidu to proceed with his threat to institute defamation proceedings against me in New South Wales.
Grubsheet readers will note that the deadline for me to retract and apologise was a year ago on Tuesday. I refused to do so and the questions about Richard Naidu’s conduct remain.
What has changed is that a year ago, I was a lone voice challenging Naidu’s impregnable position in the political and legal establishment.
Now I am merely part of an army asking: “Richard Naidu, you have got to be joking”.
Oh the not so famous Naidu now.
How times have changed and the country wants to know more about who Naidu really is. Educated Fijians do not hold this guy in high esteem anymore. He sold the minority Fijians to the coup maker.
Naidu, the question is, “what have you done to Fiji? Why sell us for power and greed?”
Those voters Naidu is targeting is the same as him in Fiji. Those who knew what Rabuka was like. Biman hoodwinked his voters because he told us that he will never side with Rabuka, a coup maker. But he did.
Biman is has done to Fiji what the American white people have done to
America today.
Richie’s mother – Ethel Naidu – was a beautiful soul, a music teacher at our Marist brothers, a kind hearted, ethical, decent Fijian Citizen who enriched the lives of many of her students by feeding their soul with music in a multicultural school.By contrast, Richie- what have you done for the country, a greedy Na Qio who has now become a Bakewa, latching and feeding off much bigger fish, your political father the bull**** Baiman and SLR. What a contrast. A disgrace to our community ,the legal profession and Fiji in general!
Richard, Baimaan and NFP are the biggest jokes in Fiji. Not a funny one though. No one’s laughing. Everyone’s actually angry. Very angry.
As if Taniguchi-Gate wasn’t enough, we now have Rhea-Gate. Obscene and ugly,
Rhea-gate
Fiji Times -gate
Fiji Water- gate
Biman – gate
I wonder if Biman and Richard have a thing going (you know a special thing). They seem pretty close together.
Either way, I am very unhappy with Richard and Biman. No more voting NFP and its clowns.
Richard, you are the joke of the century in Fiji. Get a life because it won’t all seem so glorified come 2026. You have been cancelled already.
His plan was to stand for election in 2022 but his court case prevented him from doing so.
I challenge Richard Naidu to stand in 2026 and let’s see how many votes he will get!
Well Mr Richard Naidu, thank you for your contributing opinion to the USA elections. As a lawyer, one would assume that you would have put in a bit of thought into your post. Obviously you didn’t so now the jokes on you, you clown.
As GD has put on paper, please answer the question he put to you. And simply answer, no one wants to hear your legal opinions or jargon. You have very quickly become a disgrace to the country because, as reported, you failed to provide any meaningful information that Fiji Water was a client of your company when it was granted a 7 year tax holiday. You have simply robbed your own people of valuable tax dollars.
You want to be further ashamed? Please stand for elections in 2026 and we, the people of Fiji, will make sure that you will have no option but to come clean about your involvement with this current bunch of cronies in the coalition. A suggestion for Mr Naidu; put your money where your mouth is and tell the truth. You will sleep better at night. Shame on you!!!
People in a glass house should not throw stones.
Could be that The Wonderful Company’s owners are aligned with the Democrats.
We always wondered who were the Gujarati who conspired with coup leaders.
We can now add a few other Indians in general including Biman and Richard.
Munro Leys will have a lot to answer for when the others come rolling in in 2026.
My worst dream is to wake up in 2026 to find Richard Naidu is Prime Minister and Vani Catanasiga as his deputy, also perhaps with Bill Takayawa as Foreign Minister.
That will be it for me.
Munro Leys (aka Richard Naidu) has certainly profited from its close association with NFP, the third leg in this Coalition govt.
As the cartoon shows: $1m for the Aspen deal, $1m from the failed FNPF buy-out of Westpac, perhaps another cool mil from Fiji Water and God knows who else.
When they eventually come to drain the swamp little Richie will be among the first to go down the gurgler and bloody good riddance too at that.
.
Richie Rich is a very wealthy man. He has the means to survive any scandal, any conflicts of interest, anything, really. The man is untouchable and he knows it.
We should all get on with our inconsequential lives and let these people be. Nothing in Fiji will ever change for the better. As Donald duck says: the enemy is within.
BTW, Richie Rich while you may think you know best about Fiji politics, it wouldn’t be unfair to say you know jack about US politics.
The deep south, rust belt, evangicals, white tiki torch blanket crowd, under educated, low info, dirt poor former slave holding states, white supremacists, old white hate filled voters, anti-immgrant bigots, white hispanics, maimi cubana people, the billionares, the many PACs, the heritage foundation, (watchout for project 2025) and the many uncle Tom enablers all played vital roles to make ‘Amerikkka great again’.
The common thread that runs through Fiji and other countries extreme right politics of race/hate/bigotry/hypocrisy/fear is
unfortunately greed and cowardice.
Both have infected our nation deeply. We do not have any need to compare. Our problems are home-grown.
To end, slr was not directly elected to power. He came to power through our legal political processes-by the power of one vote.
What slr presented to the electorate was hate, false humility, and by deceptively disguising his true intentions.
As much as others sounded warnings, all the electorate cared and wanted was to realize their hate; slr recognized this and played to the audience, speaking effectively out of both sides of his lying mouth as only he can.
Baimaan and his greedy sycophants did a good job of stoking that hate and fear to advance the result we now have.
As if soldelpa and nfp help wasn’t enough, the greedy and immoral bastards now known as G16/G9 blockheads really put the boot in.
What has Baiman got to fear? If the charges are baseless let him submit to Court to prove his innocence.
As a national leader he has a duty to lead by example, submit to the Court and show to the public that there is nothing to fear from our legal system.
But to duck arrest in the manner he did relying on his big gun lawyers does not engender confidence in the eyes of the public.
Political courage is seriously lacking
There is no media and political commentator in Fiji worthy of recognition.
They should hang their heads in shame.