WHAT ELSE IS HIDDEN IN PARADISE?
The Savusavu Town Council has outstanding and current rate arrears of $5488.39 as of February 28, 2021, a source at the Council has revealed.
Of this amount, $331,667.94 are outstanding arrears with the rest being the current rates.
The council is understood to be struggling financially and is trying to recover from this.
Shine a Light understands the council is in the process of auditing its financial reports starting 2011.
There are 545 ratepayers in Savusavu. About 219 ratepayers still have outstanding arrears with the council.
To help boost its revenue, the council is in the process of taking outstanding ratepayers to court. This follows several demand notices issued by the council last year. Shine a Light had reached out to the former chief executive officer of the council, Dharmendra Lal. He refused to comment on why audits were not done.
“You can ask all the questions to the Ministry of Local Government. I am no longer the CEO, my contract has ended,” he said via telephone. Mr Lal worked with former administrator, Vijay Chand. Mr Chand served both Labasa and Savusavu towns.
Mr Chand was sent on leave in December 2018. Earlier media reports stated that when Mr Chand’s leave ended, he was notified in a letter that his contract was over.
Mr Lal followed suit in 2019.
The current Savusavu Town Council administration came into office in November 2019. The CEO position is being held by Sima Shiwani Dutt.
COUNCIL FINANCES
The council’s financial statements have not been audited for the past 10 years.
The current administration hopes to complete all the audit reports by December this year.
“So many things need balancing off; it takes a lot of time. We have all these manual files that we need to enter online,” said a council source. The source spoke on the condition of not being named.
“The previous management and the CEO’s responsibility are to update the council’s accounts.” Long-time serving CEO, Mr Lal said under his leadership, the council had submitted draft financial reports to the Ministry of Local Government.
However, under the Local Government Act (Section 19), all municipal councils are required to prepare an annual statement and a copy of their financial audit report.
These are then submitted as annual reports to the ministry, then the minister responsible presents it to Cabinet, and then to Parliament where it is debated.
Local Government Minister Premila Kumar said: “In the case of Savusavu Town Council, they had prepared their draft statement of account from 2011 to 2015 and this was done by an external accounting firm, which was submitted to the Office of the Auditor General (OAG).
“The statements were actually returned to the council for noncompliance of IFAC (International Federation of Accountants) by the council.”
Ms Kumar said the OAG had requested the council to resubmit their financials in 2017, which was never done.
The last audited financials of the Savusavu Town Council was in 2010.
It was categorised as ‘qualified.’ There were four issues that needed clarification.”
In an earlier media report, Ms Kumar said issues involving the council had been reported to the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC).
Ms Kumar further said the complaint included alleged discrepanfrom
cies over financial records and alleged mismanagement of funds for the Savusavu Market.
FICAC REPORT
Shine a Light understands that the complaint was lodged with FICAC on September 22, 2020.
So far, there has been no response from FICAC on the status of the complaint. The council had sent a follow up email to FICAC on Monday this week.
The complaint is regarding the delay in the Savusavu Market project under the previous administration. Shine a Light was reliably informed that $520,000 had been allegedly misused under the previous administration. The $520,000 includes a $400,000 grant by the Ministry of Local Government to upgrade the Savusavu Market.
It is understood that the grant was allegedly used for the council’s operational expenses such as wages and paying of suppliers.
It is alleged that the previous administration had been purchasing materials from suppliers in Savusavu instead of Labasa, which was more expensive.
“If they buy from Labasa like RC Manubhai etc, those are the suppliers, it would have been cheaper, which is what we are doing right now,” the source at the council said. “Their payables were very high. So they used that money to buy from these creditors.”
It is also alleged that the $120,000 earmarked for the upgrade of the Nabalebale mini market was misused. This was contrary to the grant agreement between the council and the ministry.
Instead, it is believed a temporary market was erected without proper tender. Construction company Pyare Industries in Labasa carried out the project.
The source said following their analysis, the council found that the actual cost was around $25,000. Most of the materials for the temporary market were sourced from the old market structure. There were two steel structures from a scaffolding company which they were charging $5500 a month, the source said.
“When we came in, we saw the cost and the factors, we asked them to end the contract, we didn’t want it, but by then the charges had accumulated to more than $80,000.
“We found out about the alleged corruption before, but we needed enough evidence, so collecting evidence took us time.
“The previous management had purchased on credit this luxury vehicle, they didn’t have any money, but they still bought the vehicle for $100,000 from Niranjans, so that was paid off.”
Shine a Light was informed that the current management was able to clear all the outstanding creditors. The current administration’s expenses have also reduced to 50 per cent when compared to previous years.
REVENUE
The council earns income through:
■ Rates;
■ Garbage collection fee;
■ Base fees for taxis, buses and carriers;
■ Business license;
■ Rent from kiosk;
■ Use of Ganilau Park; and
■Extended town boundaries grants from Government.
PROJECTS
Current CEO Ms Dutt said they were not able to carry out projects last year because of financial challenges.
“We have a few projects lined up for this year and one of them is the introduction of parking meters,” she said.
“We have completed all the application processes, so we are just searching for a supplier for parking meters.”
Ms Dutt said the council had also applied for the Public Sector Investment Programmes for the extension of the Ganilau Park.
“The game held here last week saw the need for the expansion of the park, because it was overcrowded and there was no proper parking space.”
Ms Dutt said the council was looking to support a proposed sports recreational facility in Savusavu.