[Source: Fiji Police]

The Prime Minister has issued a stern warning that those who cheat the cash assistance program rolled out by the government will be held accountable.

PM Voreqe Bainimarama says if Fijians taking advantage of this assistance, they are not stealing from the government, rather stealing from friends and neighbors.

He is once again making himself clear, if people are caught for being dishonest, they must not complain if they never receive any assistance not being prosecuted under the law.

This follows reports of a good number of applicants who have previously applied for the assistance cheated the recent $50 and $90 cash assistance program.

“We had 353,416 Fijians apply for this programme. However out of this, 65,275 applied with more than one sim card. 65,224 were already recipients of unemployment benefits under the FNPF scheme. 21,000 were already recipients of welfare payments, TELS, Toppers and were under the age of 18. So these tens of thousands did not qualify because they already were receiving other forms of assistance. We even had one person who has tricked his way into being paid out eight times.”

Bainimarama is once again reminding Fijians to be honest and their support is needed during these trying times.

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