The Labasa Magistrates Court has acquitted Vuo Supermarket of failing to pay Fiji National Provident Fund contributions after ruling that the prosecution did not prove its case.

The charges alleged the company failed to pay contributions for worker Penisoni Rokosi between April and September 2022.

But Rokosi never appeared in court, and no evidence was produced to show he was an employee of the supermarket.

Resident Magistrate Safaira Ratu said the case collapsed because there was no relevant and admissible evidence establishing an employer–employee relationship.

She noted that state witnesses tendered payslips despite not being named in the charges, and the investigating officer admitted to manually entering contribution details into the FNPF portal without securing contracts.

The court also found that Rokosi never lodged a complaint himself and investigators failed to record his statement.

Evidence showed his phone had been used without his consent to file the complaint.

Rokosi remains employed at Vuo Supermarket. Magistrate Ratu upheld the defence’s no-case-to-answer submission and ordered the company’s acquittal.

Managing Director Jitendra Chand said the case, which dragged on for two years over just $287.34, was emotionally exhausting and unfair for a first-time business operator.

He said the workers in question were never his employees but contractors.

“So these things never happened there, because they were never my employees. They were working under a contractor. They didn’t have an offer, nothing. But, guess what? FNPF being FNPF, a big giant, I expected them to be supporting a new business, a small business like me. First time in the country doing business. I expected them to come and coach, train and guide us not punish and be punitive and demanding,”

He described the ordeal as bullying by a powerful institution against a small operator. The acquittal means FNPF cannot pursue recovery under Section 108A of the FNPF Act, as no conviction was secured.

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