Some Nasinu Town Council (NTC) staff in the past had gone out to collect outstanding arrears from ratepayers but no payments were deposited into the council’s bank account.

Minister for Local Government Premila Kumar said the NTC had the highest rate of corruption out of the 13 municipalities in the country.

Ms Kumar said some former staff of the NTC were taking bribes from vendors to allow them to build roadside stalls which were illegal.

“After I was appointed as the minister for this ministry in 2018, my immediate task was to bring about change in the internal operations of NTC,” she said.

“I know that if you strengthen the core, staff, operations and policies, then obviously you will start to see the results. If you do not have the right team, you won’t get the right outcome.”

“It took more than two years for the executives to change the perception of the NTC and particularly the way staff were operating.”

She said the ministry had lodged several allegations of corruption at the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption.

“We all know that the corruption at Nasinu was the highest, there were small corrupt practices going on in the municipality,” she said.

“Over the years, we have seen that these practices have changed and you have made the commitments, not to take bribes and improve the system.”

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