Fiji's former Minister of Finance says he was unaware of the military spending millions of dollars over its allocated budget while he was in office.
Recently released Auditor General's reports of the last seven years show the Fiji military overspent 23 million US dollars in 2007, the year after it staged a coup.
Fiji Labour Party leader Mahendra Chaudhry Photo: AFP
Mahendra Chaudhry says the military has always operated independently of the Finance Ministry.
"Attempts in the past to get the military to assimilate its accounting system with that of the Finance Ministry did not succeed. They have always operated independently of the Finance Ministry and this was one of the reasons the overspending was not being properly monitored, could not be properly monitored."
Mahendra Chaudhry says there is a lot that needs to be explained by the authorities, including overspending in other departments and money being transferred from particular allocations to other areas.
