Fiji Labour Party opposes the  licensing of  Casinos in Fiji. 

“Organised gambling is known  to bring with it many forms of criminal activity, such as,  corruption, drug peddling, extortion, human trafficking, prostitution, money laundering and so on.

“We just don’t have the resources or the competence to handle such complex issues to keep our people safe from its harmful effects,” said Labour Leader Mahendra Chaudhry.

We already have a serious drugs problem with many of our young people ending up in trouble with the law. We certainly don’t  want to exacerbate the situation.

We suspect this proposed $2 billion development could be like the four (4) pie-in- the-sky type projects proposed by Chinese foreign investors during the Bainimarama government but none of which ever saw the light of  day. 

The last of these was the so- called $600m Nasese Foreshore development by Tian Lun Investment. The company obtained a five- year development lease over a large area of the foreshore but did virtually no work on it for over five years. It was attempting to secure a long term lease  but their application was rejected by the government earlier this year.

It seems that the top priority of the David Group of Macao is obtaining the Casino license. There is no guarantee that the other aspects of the proposed development will eventuate if the license is granted.

“We have to be extremely careful of such foreign investment proposals,” Chaudhry warned.