Former FHL Chairman Cupit insists the share deals were lawful

CUPIT SAYS SHARE PURCHASES WERE LAWFUL AND ABOVE BOARD

From Islands Business 2005 edition:

“Cupit defends the purchases and says he would today exactly follow the same path.

“What was done was clearly done in full disclosure and totally transparent, and if the governance framework was in place, it would have passed those deals.

“Those deals are clean. It’s people’s imagination that’s getting them wrong. They were clean. If we formed the company again and with the governance framework, it would still go through.”

From:http://www.islandsbusiness.com/fiji_business/index_dynamic/containerNameToReplace=MiddleMiddle/focusModuleID=3738/overideSkinName=issueArticle-full.tpl

Cupit has been chairman since the company's 1984 launch. The company has ridden out some hard knocks, he says.

"We've had three coups, that's no good for business. But I think we've done very well. The capital value of our assets is very secure. There's no just promises in there,it's actually in the ground. Yes, we've done well."

The company's early days were and still are painted with controversy about the circumstances in which some of its first shareholders bought their shares. 

Some of the shareholders, including directors and employees of the Fiji Development Bank, of which Cupit was also chairman, financed share purchases of Class A shares with loans from the Fiji Development Bank. One such investor was then FDB managing director,Laisenia Qarase.

Therewas criticism that a number of prominent Fijians were given unfair access to the shares in a manner that bordered on 'insider trading'.

Cupit defends the purchases and says he would today exactly follow the same path.

"What was done was clearly done in full disclosure and totally transparent,and if thegovernance framework was in place, it would have passed those deals.

 "Those dealsare clean. It's people's imagination that's getting them wrong.They were clean. If we formed the company again and with the governance framework, it would still gothrough."

Modelled on Singaporean lines, Fijian Holdings has just completed drawing up a code of business ethics that insists on transparency and good corporate behaviour. This  is goingto be written into the employment contracts of all FHL executives,"Cupitsays.

 "You are not allowed to tell half lies when you are dealing with big companies. You got to be truthful. That's what it'sall about."