Fiji tax row worries Kiwis
A report by Michael Field in New Zealand’s Dominion Post says that eighteen thousand mainly New Zealand investors face an anxious wait on the fate of their money under Fiji leader Bainimarama.
The Bridgecorp group, one of New Zealand’s leading property finance companies, has found a major investment hinges on him forcing his will on Fiji’s taxman, with in an act of defiance, Fiji Islands Revenue and Customs Authority (FIRCA) chief Tevita Banuve refusing to rescind a tax bill levied on Bridgecorp, saying the military was breaking the law by telling him to do that.
The dispute centres on a resort at Momi Bay, south of Nadi, which contains hotels, marinas, golf courses and 900 residential sections, with the resort having sold luxury beach homes to New Zealanders but cannot now give them title.
Momi Bay is also the home of the new Marroitt in Fiji which is also reported also to be on stop, with a Bridgecorp-linked Fijian registered company, Matapo, building the resort and homes, but the battle has caused all work to grind to a halt.
Bridgecorp, which has $523 million out in term investments with 18,000 people, says 7% of its assets are tied up in Momi, saying it says it is owed $49.1 million from Momi.
Spokeswoman Joanne Tait said the company had had further help from Mr Bainimarama and expected the project to restart, with Commodore Bainimarama, who overthrew the government in December and later named himself as Prime Minister, saying in a statement he would ensure the New Zealand investors’ interests were protected and secured, but he has found himself in a power struggle with FIRCA, which demanded the development pay a multimillion-dollar tax bill.
Last week Commodore Bainimarama ordered his Finance Minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, who was appointed by the military, to cancel the assessmen, but Mr Banuve said the instruction was against Fijian law and suggested that if Matapo or Commodore Bainimarama wanted to challenge the assessment they do it in court.
Ms Tait said Matapo had faced several issues that were compounded by the December coup, adding, “As of this week with the assistance of (Commodore Bainimarama) a tax assessment has been lifted, with Matapo previously claimed the tax assessments issued against them in October 2006 (pre-coup) were wrong in law.”
“As a consequence, rearrangement of land titles relating to the land subdivision is in progress and expected to be completed imminently.”
“On-site construction will now recommence and the development can begin to operate again to its full capacity.”
Aside from the Bridgecorp investment itself, about 100 New Zealanders have each paid more than F$240,000 (NZ$208,000) for a house at Momi, with the new government freezing title transfers.
Ms Tait said several had now been issued with two-thirds of the remaining titles were expected in mid-May.
Report by The Mole from The Dominion Post
John Alwyn-Jones
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