The Registrar of Political Parties, Mohammed Saneem

The Registrar of Political Parties, Mohammed Saneem has this morning issued suspension letters to Unity Fiji, Freedom Alliance and HOPE Parties.

These political parties have failed to comply with Section 26 (2) of the Political Parties Act.

In a statement, the Fijian Elections Office says all parties are required to submit audited accounts to the Registrar within three months of the end of the financial year.

It says the last date for the submission of these accounts was 31st March 2021 and to date, none of these parties have submitted their accounts.

In considering the gravity of the breach, the Registrar of Political Parties, Mohammed Saneem says of the seven political parties in Fiji only four have managed to submit these documents on time.

“The Registrar has taken the step to suspend the parties for 30 days and at the end of the 30 day period if they still have not remedied the breach then I will consider further necessary action.”

Saneem says, Unity Fiji, Freedom Alliance and HOPE have been notified that they must remedy the breach within 60 days and in failing to do so the parties may face de-registration.

Speaking to FBC News, Freedom Alliance Party leader, Jagath Karunaratne says they intend to submit the accounts to the Fijian Elections Office later today.

Karunaratne says they were not informed in a timely manner that the auditors they used for the last 7 years no longer had a license to operate.

“We had to find new auditors and the new auditors took longer than we expected because they had to go through all the previous audits that we had submitted. That was the reason for the delay, and as we speak the audited accounts are almost ready, so we will finalize that.”

FBC News has tried to contact Unity Fiji Party Leader Savenaca Narube and HOPE Party Leader Tupou Draunidalo however both are in meetings.