Rabuka lauds OAG for winning case
OPPOSITION Leader Sitiveni Rabuka has commended the courage of the Office of the AuditorGeneral (OAG) after it successfully defended a legal action for defamation in the Fiji Court of Appeal.
Mr Rabuka was commenting on the 2019 Fiji Court of Appeal ruling, which dismissed an appeal by accountancy firm Aliz Pacific claiming the Auditor-General had defamed it.
The case concerned a $500,000 government consultancy contract to restructure the Rewa Co-operative Dairy Company Ltd (RCDC), awarded to Aliz Pacific without a tender in 2010.
Commenting on the award of the contract in his 2010 report, the Auditor-General stated “Government procurement procedure pertaining to the acquisition of services above $30,001 was breached and the transparency of the process in which Aliz Pacific was awarded the consultancy contract for the restructure of RCDC was questionable. A tender must be called for the procurement of goods services or works valued at $30,001 and more.
“The Appeal Court found all six grounds of appeal without merit, and that the report of the Auditor-General of 2010, in Volume II and IV, concerning the grant of the contract to Aliz Pacific without tender,” he said.
Mr Rabuka said he commended “the courage of the Auditor-General and his officers in carrying out their legal duty to ensure public or taxpayer funds are discharged with transparency and in accordance with government financial rules and procedures”.