UPDATED: 9:37am – A war of words has erupted between the National Federation Party leader Biman Prasad and Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Commission director Ashwin Raj.
It is over claims that independent offices cannot be subjected to special audits unless requested for by them.
Mr Prasad claimed that an amendment to Section 72 of the Finance Instructions 2010 limited the authority of the Permanent Secretary for Economy in authorising audits for independent institutions.
Mr Raj said the amendment did not mean that the commission could not be subjected to an audit because section 16(2) of the Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Commission Act required that their accounts be audited by the Auditor-General.
He said Mr Prasad’s claim was a feeble attempt to gain political mileage by deliberately distorting what the law actually said and duping members of the public which needed correction.
“These might be politically desperate times for Biman Prasad and the National Federation Party but I am requesting him to please conduct himself with integrity and not mislead the public,” Mr Raj said.
Mr Prasad said Mr Raj should concentrate on producing the commission’s and the Media Industry Development Authority’s (MIDA) reports rather than commenting on these issues.
“He should come out clearly and say why the annual reports from the Human Rights Commission and MIDA are not available. That’s the question that we are asking and he should answer that,” Mr Prasad said.
The real issue, he said, was that Mr Raj should explain why he was holding those two roles and why those reports were not available.
-Fiji Sun
