Fiji Bati (file image)
Photo: Facebook / NRL
Rajesh Singh said the FNRL’s financial accounts for the last three years is being audited, following revelation the organisation was on the verge of bankruptcy.
Singh, voted in two months ago to head Fiji’s national rugby league body, confirmed to RNZ Pacific on Wednesday the organisation is currently under a Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC) probe.
He said an independent report by Pherrus Financial Services was tabled at the FNRL Annual General Meeting in Suva last Saturday.
The report provided a summary of FNRL’s current financial and governance situation, which Singh said was not healthy.
“We are getting the financial audited. That report spoke about the debts owed, procedures not followed, transparency not being done,” he said.
“We are getting FICAC, police and the law take its course. We have not been transparent and the sport is suffering as a result.”
The report from Pherrus Financial Services is the result of several months of back-and-forward investigation, which Singh said was delayed because FNRL staff were not cooperating by refusing to allow investigators to sight or get copies of the financials.
FICAC stepped in two weeks ago and removed records that they needed to look at.
The Fiji Sports Commission, who manages funding support for local sports organisations, raised concerns last year and demanded that an investigation be done by Pherrus Financial Services.
Singh said clubs have raised concerns about the “financial mess”.
“We have told the members that we are now working on clearing things up, cleaning up the mess,” he said.
FNRL interim chairman Rajesh Singh
Photo: Facebook / Rajesh Singh
Ernst and Young has been engaged to carry out the audit. Singh is hoping the audited accounts for 2023/2024 would be ready to be presented to members in a special general meeting before the 2026 Rugby League World Cup.
The audits will cover the 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years.
Singh added it was importan to get things back on track before the 2026 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC) in Ausralia and into the New Year, with funding assistance dependent on how things shape up from now on.
“That’s the focus. We have funders who are funding us and we need to be transparent, follow the procedures.”
The FNRL was on the verge of also missing out of being included as a voting member of the International Rugby League earlier this year, after the organisation did not file reporting requirements for the last three years.
Meanwhile, the FNRL has yet to announce the head coach of the Fiji Bati, with just five months to go before they kick-off their RLWC campaign against the Cook Islands on 17 October 17 at McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle.
