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Auckland, February 7, 2023
Former Fijian Broadcasting Corporation Chief Executive Riyaz Sayed-Khaiyum refuted the statement of the new Chairman Ajay Bhai Amrit that he was paid $32,000 a month in salary.
He said that under his most recent three-year contract, which was approved by the previous board in late December 2022, he was paid “nowhere near what has been falsely reported.”
He said that all his employment contracts for the past 15 years were approved by several boards, always with stringent conditions with well-defined Key Performance Indicators.
He said that the Board always approved his salary, bonus and other entitlements based on performance and strict adherence to PWC job evaluation reports.
Salary amount disputed
The board also sanctioned every major development at the FBC over the last 15 years, he said.
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said that Mr Amrit’s allegation that he had received more than $304,000 in salary during the Covid-19 pandemic is also incorrect.
According to him, the FBC staff had a 10% salary reduction for about half a year to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on their revenue, and he took a voluntary 12% salary reduction.
He said that Mr Amrit is also on record saying that he found it difficult to access information about the Chief Executive’s salary despite going to different ministries.
The Chairman could have easily accessed this information from FBC’s financials, the Director of Human Resources or the Chief Financial Officer, or simply checked the information that was provided to the Board prior to the meeting of 27th January 2023. All the information about his employment, with contracts of employment, was provided to the Board, he said.
The remarks made by the Chairman are not only false but also appear to be designed to give rise to a particular negative sentiment within the Fijian public, not only against him but against the former FBC Board and FBC as an entity, Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said.
He also refuted statements relating to the import of a car that cost F$ 200,000.
The purchase and import were sanctioned by the Board.
He said that the fiduciary duty of the Board is to act in the best interest of the company and asked why it wanted to have unprecedented dialogue and work with its media competitors in an aggressively competitive media environment.
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum refuted the view of Mr Amrit that FBC was given more than F$ 90 million over the past 14 years and said that the Company was short-changed by about F$ 200 million if the true account of its public service broadcasting services is taken into the equation.
Ajay Amrit clarifies
Mr Amrit has issued a statement in which he said that he has received clarification from the finance team of the Fiji Broadcasting Corporation.
“Mr Sayed-Khaiyum’s exact annual total salary and benefits was $387,790.08. The monthly breakdown amounted to F$ 32,315.84. He had taken a salary reduction of 12% or $14,259.97 for five months during the Covid-19 pandemic (from April 2020 to October 2020). But he received Key Performance Indicator and Company Bonus amounting to $27,671.28 in 2020,” he said.
Mr Amrit said that the purchase of a vehicle was a big issue.
“FBC paid $207,470 which Mr Sayed-Khaiyum had also claimed was not true. But this amount has been detailed in the receipts provided by the finance team. The payment was made in two instalments to Motorpart Traders Limited trading as Sakura Cars Limited. These findings have been referred to the relevant authorities, to provide a conclusion for this issue,” he said.
