The Attorney-General has no right to talk about compliance with election fundraising laws by political parties and candidates because he is the FijiFirst party general secretary and registered officer.
This was the word from National Federation Party president Pio Tikoduadua.
He said the A-G should be the last person to lecture political parties and candidates about electoral laws and instead understand the basic principle of conflict of interest.
Mr Tikoduadua said Mr Sayed-Khaiyum ignored the fact that as registered officer and general secretary of FijiFirst, his responsibility was to ensure his party and candidates strictly complied with all laws.
“The A-G is behaving like the laws only apply to the Opposition and not FijiFirst,” he said.
“The A-G may be the Minister Responsible for Elections but he cannot enforce the laws.”
He claimed that Mr Sayed-Khaiyum’s role as such was to merely bring laws to Parliament for enactment.
“So he has no basis whatsoever to lecture other political parties about compliance with fundraising laws.
“We know how FijiFirst accumulated millions of dollars in donations leading up to the 2018 elections.
“And undoubtedly, their hand-picked fundraisers, whose identities are known to us, are in overdrive. We are well aware of their modus operandi in terms of their fundraising.”
Mr Tikoduadua said it was the job of the Electoral Commission and the Supervisor of Elections to enforce the laws.
Questions sent to Mr Sayed-Khaiyum on the comments made by Mr Tikoduadua remain unanswered.
