Belford says that the Korean doomsday cult group "got preferential treatment" during the previous Bainiamarama administration. Photo: Islands Business
The Fijian government "cannot interfere with investigations" in relation to allegations against an infamous Korean religious sect, which continues to expand if business footprint in the island nation, Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka says.
This week, the international investigative journalism non-profit, the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), broke the story that the United States was "threatening" to cut all non-humanitarian aid to Fiji.
The OCCRP reported that the US was considering downgrading Fiji on their global human trafficking index - Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP) - to the lowest level due to Fiji's failure to crackdown on the Grace Road Church group.
"The move would put at risk millions of dollars in development aid to the South Pacific country. The State Department official's statement to OCCRP said the US is cooperating with Fiji, which needs to take 'decisive action' to avoid the downgrade," the OCCRP reported.
OCCRP's Pacific editor Aubrey Belford told Pacific Waves that the Korean doomsday cult group "got preferential treatment" during the previous Bainiamarama administration, including receiving "government backed loans to expand their businesses".
"Underpinning it all was what former members say is essentially slave labour, being forced to work 16 hours a day, six or seven days a week for no pay. Infractions result in beatings," he said.
"Families are separated, husbands from wives, parents from children, which makes them a very competitive economic actor in the country. Because, if you're not paying your workers, then you've got a real advantage."
Belford said the thing that has drawn US attention to Grace Road is that a significant number of Grace Road members are mostly US citizens of Korean descent.
"We've had quite a few cases over the years of US citizens who have escaped the cult, and over the last year or so, four at least have left, including a mother with her two children.
"So the fact that the US has citizens that have escaped the cult, and they're accusing the cult of human trafficking and other abuses is really what brought it on their radar."
United States has a legally mandated framework around human trafficking, which means they need to assess every country in the world for how well they are combating human trafficking, Belford said.
He added Fiji has, for the last couple of years, been on the second lowest ranking, the Tier 2 watchlist.
"What that basically means is that if they don't clean up their act by March [2026], they get put down into the bottom rung (Tier 3), which is countries like North Korea, Cambodia and Eritrea.
"Under US law, this means that you basically have a near automatic end to most non-humanitarian aid."
Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka says his government will not interfere with investigations. Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
Responding to questions from local reporters about what was being done about the Grace Road investigations, Rabuka said: "Government cannot interfere with investigations nor with the court process after investigations."
"But if the United States of America has grounds for some of their citizens who are involved, and they would want them extradited. We have extradition agreement with the United States, and we will oblige," he said in a news conference on Wednesday.
He admitted that his is worried about the impact the issue will have on the country's reputation.
But he added "that is why we are hoping all the agencies involved in the investigation, prosecution and actual judgment of those cases will act expeditiously in the interest of the country".
Previously, Rabuka had told reporters that he had established an "inter-ministerial taskforce" led by his office to provide strategic direction and oversight of these national efforts.
He said that the joint immigration, customs, and police investigations into a series of cases related to Grace Road are nearing completion, according to OCCRP's report.
According to the USAFacts website, the US committed about US$6.89 in aid to Fiji for the fiscal year (FY) 2023.
