News

Trader to soon be charged once allegations are confirmed

May 29, 2018 8:27 pm

A trader will soon be charged by the Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission of the alleged abuse of the Homes Care program.

Commission Chief Executive, Joel Abraham says once the allegations are confirmed then they will lay charges by the end of this week or early next week.

“We’ve sent people out to start getting preliminary information and so far we’ve issued out notices to 42 different traders and preliminary investigations have started.”

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Abraham says traders must be honest when dealing with consumers on this sort of initiatives.

“What we’ve noted that traders have been actually doing some very questionable things that require in-depth investigation, things such as giving out certain items which were not supposed to be on the list and then putting out items which are on the list, which consumers haven’t taken”

He adds that a team will be sent to the Western Division today to carry out further in-depth investigations.

Anyone found giving false information can be fined up to $20,000.

Meanwhile, those found breaching the Act can be fined $50,000 and if anyone is charged or taken to court, they could face a maximum fine up to $250,000.