Pacific / Fiji

Grace Road workers in the clear: Fiji govt

16:37 pm on 29 August 2018

Fiji's government says workers associated with the Grace Road Group have not violated any local laws.

The group of companies set up by followers of a South Korean church runs dozens of businesses in Fiji employing at least 300 South Koreans and 100 locals.

Shin Ok-ju, the founder of Grace Road Church, was jailed in South Korea in 2019 for enslaving some 400 followers in Fiji. Photo: Grace Road Church

The church's founder Shin Ok-Joo was arrested last month in Seoul accused of enslaving workers in Fiji.

The Permanent Secretary at the Prime Minister's Office Yogesh Karan told The Fiji Times he had been through the foreign workers' records and they were all in the clear.

He said 95 percent of them came to Fiji between 2013 and 2015 and so far none of them have breached their visa conditions.

He said there's no reason for them to be investigated.

Mr Karan said the government had not received any directive from Interpol regarding any of the Grace Road workers.

The Grace Road Group has told the paper it's continuing with its business developments in Fiji.

Fiji's prime minister Frank Bainimarama, second from right, is pictured at the awarding of a Prime Minister's Business Award to a member of Grace Road Group, the church's business arm, in 2017. Photo: Fiji Prime Minister's International Business Awards