The National Federation Party says the annual reports of the Fiji Sugar Corporation reveal mammoth losses by the FSC in the last two financial years making the Corporation technically insolvent.
NFP Leader Professor Biman Prasad says he has sighted the 2016 and 2017 Annual Reports, and he claims that FSC’s 2016 Annual Report for the financial year ended May 31, 2015 shows an operating loss of $53.4 million, compared to $31.7 million loss for the previous financial year.
Prasad adds that the 2017 Annual Report for the financial year ended May 31, 2016, shows an operating loss of $45 million.
He says that the 2016 Report values FSC’s assets at $254 million while its total borrowing stood at about $380 million.
Prasad also claims that the 2017 Report reduces the value of FSC’s assets to around $199.5 million while total borrowing increased to over $421 million.
He stresses that this proves the Fiji Sugar Corporation is technically insolvent.
Prasad also pointed out that Parliament has in the last two years approved a total of $322 million guarantees for an FSC credit facility with ANZ Bank.
He says guarantees and loans are necessary because sugar is an industry that supports the livelihood of some 200,000 people.
Prasad says that it is an exercise in futility to pump money into an organisation without knowing what happened to the previous injections of millions of dollars.
The NFP Leader also highlighted that nothing has been heard for a year about the supposed investigation of the operations of the FSC and that of the former Executive Chairman, following his resignation last October.
He adds that the FSC Board should be acutely aware of the new requirements of their accountability in accordance with the Companies Act.
The FSC’s Annual General Meeting will be held in Lautoka on Thursday, November 23rd and Professor Prasad says that it would all be about rhetorical solutions and pie‑in‑the‑sky theories.
Professor Prasad claims unless and until Fiji can produce 4 million tonnes of cane and manufacture 400,000 tonnes of sugar, the industry will not be viable and FSC will remain a burden to the taxpayers of Fiji.
He says that Fiji must, as a matter of priority, provide incentives to growers to produce more cane and the best way to do this is to provide them with a minimum guaranteed price of $100 per tonne of cane.
When contacted by Fijivillage, the Fiji Sugar Corporation says that it will be presenting its’ accounts to its shareholders at the FSC Annual General Meeting in Lautoka on Thursday, November 23rd and it would be premature to comment on their accounts at this present time.
The Fiji Sugar Corporation has stated that it does not respond to third‑party comments, as everyone is entitled to a view.
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