Chinese Government provides FJD 151,539 grant for Thomas Baker Memorial Junior Secondary School Building Project (Linked to Project ID#64207)

On June 27, 2007, roughly six months after the December 2006 military coup in Fiji, the Chinese Government provided a $5 million cash grant to the Government of Fiji (as recorded in Project ID#64207). These monies were deposited into a trust fund controlled by Fiji’s Office of the Prime Minister. Then, on May 22, 2007, Fiji’s Cabinet approved the utilization of the $5 million cash grant to finance the construction and upgrading of rural roads and other rural projects. FJD 151,539 was earmarked for the Thomas Baker Memorial Junior Secondary School Building Project. The purpose of this project was to construct a building for Thomas Baker Memorial Junior Secondary School in the district of Navatusila within Nadroga-Navosa province. In July 2007, an MOU was signed between the Office of the Prime Minister of Fiji and the RFMF Engineers regiment. It specified that the RFMF Engineers would be responsible for the implementation of the project. As of December 16, 2007, the project was nearing completion. It was ultimately completed on or around October 26, 2008.

Additional details

According to Fijian law, any monies that are deposited into government-controlled Trust Funds are not the property of the state and not utilized for the purpose of government. As such, these monies are to be deposited in separate bank accounts and accounted for separately from public money and other money (since they are being ‘held in trust’). Fiji’s Office of the Prime Minister operates one Trust Fund that is financed by the PRC Government and another that is financed by the Taiwanese (ROC) Government. The PRC Government, in effect, entrusted its $5 million cash grant to the coup leader (Frank Bainimarama), who became Fiji’s Prime Minister.

Number of official sources

2

Number of total sources

6