The President of the Fiji Bus Operators Association, Richard Lal, has stated that the organization has legitimate grounds for demanding greater accountability from the chief executive of the Fiji Competition and Consumer Commission (FCCC), who oversees industry regulation.
Lal countered claims made by the acting FCCC chief executive, Pranil Singh, suggesting that the Association is taking the issues personally. He clarified that their concerns are not personal but rather directed at the need for the appointed leader to uphold decisions he has previously made.
“It is the responsibility of executives like Mr. Joel Abraham to justify their decisions and any changes to them, especially since they affect the entire industry,” Lal said.
Singh, in a recent newspaper article, reacted to a statement from FBOA, issued two weeks prior, which called for the resignation of FCCC’s chief executive, Joel Abraham, due to unnecessary delays in implementing agreed decisions.
“The article is now two weeks old; among the issues it addressed was the school bus fare subsidy, which was approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday. However, another unresolved matter is a VAT adjustment error acknowledged by the previous industry regulator, the Land Transport Authority, which the FCCC agreed to rectify last year but has since retracted,” Lal explained.
He emphasized that the FCCC’s negligence in correcting this VAT error has incurred significant losses for the bus industry over the last two years, losses that cannot be recovered.
“This is about principle and professionalism. In July 2023, Mr. Abraham agreed to fix this VAT adjustment error in bus fares, contingent upon bus operators accepting a transaction fee imposed by the FCCC on top of the regular ticketing processing fees. This fee would directly benefit the FCCC,” he stated.
“Bus operators found it ethically unacceptable for the FCCC, which regulates bus fares, to impose a 1-cent transaction fee. Consequently, we could not consent to this arrangement. When it became evident that bus operators would not comply, Mr. Abraham reversed his decision to amend the VAT error by August 2023.”
“Mr. Abraham now claims that the delay is due to him seeking clarification from the LTA and the Ministry of Finance regarding this error. We question why he agreed to these changes in July 2023 only to backtrack when bus operators opposed the 1-cent transaction fee,” Lal raised.
Lal mentioned that the FBOA filed a complaint with the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC) in 2023 and has reached out to the Chair of the FCCC concerning Mr. Abraham’s interactions with the FBOA as the representative entity of the bus industry and its operators.
“Mr. Abraham’s prolonged negotiations with bus operators, which date back to when the FCCC received the authority to set bus fares, have consistently been problematic. His actions over the past year regarding a straightforward correction of a long-standing error have led to this complaint,” Lal stated.
He also indicated that the FBOA is currently involved in legal proceedings against the former Government concerning the inability to appeal against FCCC’s decisions.
“The Coalition Government has agreed to resolve this issue by removing a clause in the FCCC’s legislation that prohibits any review of its decisions. This so-called ouster clause hinders anyone from contesting FCCC’s rulings, regardless of their fairness,” he noted.
“All citizens should have the right to challenge the decisions made by a statutory body like the FCCC if we aspire to be a democratic nation,” he concluded.