Former Minister for Housing Premila Kumar says the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption should summon former Housing Authority staff implicated in fraud and corruption.

Kumar highlighted this in response to revelations that some former staff were not questioned as they have left the Housing Authority and some had even migrated.

The matter is in relation to illegal allocation of lots and abuse of tender processes, which resulted in the controversial and inappropriate owning of lots in various subdivisions.

With 59 cases before FICAC and one before the court, Kumar is not satisfied as not everyone allegedly involved has been questioned.

“We just hope that FICAC continues with the investigation, completes this, and if they have to recall staff who have migrated, they have to do that because that’s the only way to avoid corruption.”

The former Minister says it’s sad to note that unfair practices existed within the Housing Authority, abusing the good intentions of the government.

“The good intention of the government is to provide good houses to people who cannot afford them, but in this case, what we found in the report is that there were people who already own houses; they already have lands, so that was not fair.”

Kumar also confirmed that she and the then Chair of Housing Authority have already given their views on the report, as there were also inquiries into what led to the investigation.

The investigation into the Housing Authority was carried out by the Office of the Auditor General in 2020.

The report which was tabled in Parliament a fortnight ago will be discussed in the next Parliament sitting.