Transcript
The CEO of the Fiji Roads Authority, John Hutchinson, says one of the men had spoken to another company in a bid to put pressure on FRA to pay the disputed $6.8 million US dollars. He says the other man threatened his staff. He says it would have been different if MWH had simply substantiated its claim, and the Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum, backed him up.
"It is a Fijian statutory body that is standing up to a relatively large company to say look, please justify your claims and we will pay. So it is not a wrong message."
MWH Global says it has acted in accordance with the contract, and terminated it when the men were deported without its knowledge. John Hutchinson admitted he reported the men to the government, but as a statutory body he is bound to do so. He says the deportations took him by surprise.
"I was intending to raise it with MWH when I had discovered that unfortunately the individuals were at the airport and on their way out of the country."
Mr Hutchinson says FRA's policies will be reviewed, but the men would have had to leave anyway, as their work permits would have been revoked. The shadow minister for works and transport Aseri Radrodro says the Fiji government was again too high-handed in its treatment of innocent people.
"If expatriate employees discuss matters outside of their contract it requires disciplinary action but it certainly does not call for deportation with immediate effect. Those actions were extremely harsh."
MWH Global has been working with the FRA since it was set up in 2012 to fix up Fiji's roads. John Hutchinson says he suspects MWH used the situation to end its contract prematurely, as he knew of plans to reduce its workforce significantly in the coming months.
"If you're going to reduce a workforce by 40 people per month and you've only got 120 people in the workforce, by October and November you're going to be pretty thin on the ground and would find it very hard pressed to deliver the services that you were contracted to provide. So of course I'm going to have question marks over whether this is a cynical exercise by MWH or not."
The MWH Managing Director, Mark Bruzzone, says he rejects that and stands by the quality and integrity of his staff. He says the company remains committed to its staff, the community and people of Fiji. But the staff no longer have jobs, and this week the FRA advertised new positions. The minister for infrastructure, Parveen Bala, told parliament he hopes the new jobs can be taken up by at least some of the former MWH workers, but says they won't get any particular preference.
"Madam speaker FRA has assured the former MWH workers of their rights to apply for advertised positions with them."
The opposition spokesman Aseri Radrodro says he's concerned about the message sent and whether foreign companies will think twice before doing business in Fiji. But Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum says there are no shock waves.
"Companies that have credibility that have adherence to national standards will come to Fiji and there are many companies coming to Fiji and there are many companies that are interested in coming to Fiji."
Mark Bruzzone says he intends to keep pursuing the outstanding fees, while the FRA says it too will seek legal action.