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Seruiratu defends FijiFirst action on Grace Road

September 8, 2023 4:58 pm

Former Defense Minister and current Opposition Leader, Inia Seruiratu, has clarified the actions taken by the previous government regarding the Grace Road Fiji issue.

He is responding to claims made by Immigration Minister Pio Tikoduadua that the FijiFirst government ignored INTERPOL’s requests, even though seven individuals were placed on Red Notice.

INTERPOL issued red notices in July 2018, identifying these individuals as fugitives wanted for prosecution.

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The seven individuals are Grace Road Acting President Sung Jin Lee, President Daniel Jung Young Kim, Jin Suk Choo, Byeong Joon Lee, Beomseop Shin, and Chul NA.

However, Seruiratu explains that the FijiFirst government did assist with the investigation in 2018, but it was not completed due to certain obstacles.

“The government did take the necessary steps and actions as well in order to facilitate the request that was made by the Korean government. Let me state very clearly that the Korean government pursued a lot of things then, which we were not able to facilitate based on our laws and conditions back then as well.”

Seruiratu says Fiji has a responsibility for the foreign nationals that are in the country.

One of the issues of contention was how they could travel without an official document because the government had nullified their passports.

They are Korean nationals, and this was an issue that was on the agenda of the Department of Immigration and Foreign Affairs back then.