FNPF Concludes Investigations Into Fraudulent Activity

The Fiji National Provident Fund has concluded its investigation of an employer, whose chartered accountant tampered with a receipt provided by the Fund, in a bid to escape paying the surcharge for late contribution payments.

FNPF has issued a warning to its stakeholders that it will take legal action against those who engage in such fraudulent activities.

The issue came to light when the Employer queried a surcharge penalty by FNPF, providing support evidence of a receipt for the payment of April 2016 FNPF contributions. The receipt provided by the Employer was dated May 31, however FNPF’s record of the same receipt showed that it was paid on June 13.

FNPF’s Internal Audit team delved further into the case and found that the receipt provided to FNPF was manipulated by the accounting firm to conceal late contribution payment.

Chief Operating Officer Jaoji Koroi reiterates that FNPF does not condone fraud.

“The FNPF Act states clearly that activities which are fraudulent in nature will be subject to prosecution,” said Mr. Koroi.

“We have determined that we were given a document that had been tampered. This is an offence under the FNPF Act.”

“Employers are aware that they are required by law to pay members contributions on time and any delay will result in a penalty surcharge.”

“FNPF has continuously engaged with Employers on this matter and has put in place online initiatives like the Employers Self Service Portal to assist employers with their FNPF obligations,” said Mr. Koroi.

He adds that FNPF has often been flexible with employers in the past especially when they were unable to pay contributions on time, however, it cannot continue to give them allowances at the expense of the member.

Employers are surcharged $100 per employee when they fail to pay FNPF contributions on time and this will effectively be imposed from 1 July, 2017.
For more information contact  mediaqueries@fnpf.com.fj