SOCIAL Democratic Liberal Party parliamentarian Viliame Gavoka said Government interference had resulted in one man — an expatriate — being the chairman of five organisations in the country.
He labelled Sri Lankan national Ajith Kodagoda — chairman of the Fiji National Provident Fund, Fiji Revenue and Customs Service, Amalgamated Telecom Holdings, Vodafone and Fintel — a “superman”.
“This must be a superman,” Mr Gavoka said while speaking in Parliament this week.
“He controls companies that are worth billions and billions of dollars.
This must be the biggest concentration of assets in the country under one man; the superman.
“We hear about experts and inclusiveness on the other side of the house. There is one person who chairs all these boards.
“This is dangerous. The superman here, I suppose would not need much consultation to make up his mind about anything.”
In response, Attorney-General and Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum labelled the comments made by Mr Gavoka “the personalisation of issues”.
“We have had Mr Ajith Kodagoda being singled out, that is his name, that is the person they call ‘superman’,” the A-G said.
“But the FNPF board is not Ajith Kodagoda only.
“And, by the way, Ajith Kodagoda has not picked a single cent of board fees, unlike previously, people would sit and pick up board fees even if they sat in the sub-committees.
“The other members of the board constitute the FNPF board, there is not only one person. And the decision cannot be made by only one person, you get board majority at the very least.
“I do not know if they know how boards work, that is how boards do work.”
