Fiji probes coup, forest contract link

Fiji probes coup, forest contract link
REUTERS

SUVA, OCT 20: Fijian police are investigating whether a May coup was linked to blackmail attempts by a group of business people, including coup leader George Speight, to win lucrative mahogany forest harvest contracts.

Assistant Police Commissioner Jahir Khan said on Friday that 40 Fijian business people were under investigation into the contracts worth up to a $ 580 million ($ 300 million).

He said a report would soon be handed to Fiji's director of public prosecutions to decide whether charges would be laid. "We have been looking at the people who were involved and the nature of the contracts that were signed. People being investigated are George Speight, prominent people, Fijian chiefs, business people and Indo-Fijians," Khan said.

"Some of the contracts were suspended and also there has been reports of a bribery scandal to secure the contracts," he said.

"We have always been looking at the connection with mahogany, but the priority has been the treason case. Now we are getting a clear picture; there are several possibilities, including blackmail," Khan said.

Speight stormed Fiji's parliament on May 19, taking the country's first ethnic Indian Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhary and most of his multi-racial cabinet hostage in the name of indigenous Fijians.

Speight is now awaiting trial on treason charges on Nukulau Island off Suva with about 20 co-conspirators.

Before the coup Speight was involved in attempts to sell harvesting rights to the world's largest maturing mahogany plantation on Fiji's main island Viti Levu. Khan declined to release any other names being investigated.