28 Jul 2022

Renewed calls in Fiji for Grace Road investigations

From , 6:02 am on 28 July 2022

Two former Fiji prime ministers and a former central bank governor are calling for investigations into the Fiji government's "close association" with a Korean doomsday Christian-cult called Grace Road Church that is reportedly benefiting from millions of dollars in state-backed loans.

On Tuesday, leading investigative journalism organisations, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and the Korean Centre for Investigative Journalists (KCIJ), published a major expose that zeros-in on the rapid expansion of the controversial Grace Road Church business empire with the help of prime minister Frank Bainimarama's FijiFirst government.

Fijian authorities have not responded to the claims made in the report.

But Fiji's attorney-general and economy minister, Aiyaz Sayed-Kahiyum, when pressed by local journalists on Tuesday about the report chose to challenge the credibility of the authors of the report.

RNZ Pacific has contacted Grace Road for comment.

Greenhouses at the Grace Road Group farm in Navua, Fiji.

Greenhouses at the Grace Road Group farm in Navua, Fiji. Photo: Supplied