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PM Stands By Finance Minister Over Tax Allegations

Monday: February 25, 2008

Fiji’s Interim Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama says his Finance Minister Mahendra Chaudhry has been cleared of wrongdoing relating to allegations he hasn’t declared tax on income earned between 2000 and 2003.

Radio New Zealand International reports that Commodore Bainimarama says he had already instructed the Fiji Inland Revenue and Customs Authority to investigate the allegations when he first heard of them, and that their report ,”had categorically stated that there were no breaches of the Income Tax Act by the minister."

Meanwhile, Chaudhry has instructed his lawyers to file papers and sue The Fiji Times newspaper for defamation.The Fiji Times editor Netani Rika yesterday said the newspaper stood by its story.

The Fiji Islands Revenue and Customs Authority says the fact that the Fiji Times has possession of tax documents relating to the minister “is itself a serious criminal offence."

The report relates to income interim Finance Minister Mahendra Chaudhry allegedly failed to declare for tax between 2000 and 2003.

Two tax officials, Lepani Rabo and Joseva Leano claim they were dismissed by the Fiji Islands Revenue and Customs Authority because they held Chaudhry's tax files.

http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=38214
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=82243
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=82228
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=82236