Pensioners' president asks FNPF to clarify

Only some have received their pension payout while a few members have approached them claiming their payments have not been made says Fiji Pensioners Association president Hari Naicker.

Naicker said yesterday members had approached them and told them that they had not received their payments and were concerned.

“Yesterday members had informed the association they had been told to refill their recent addresses and contact numbers,” he said.

“The recent delay was caused by a technical glitch but this time we ask the Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF) to come out and be honest about whether members will be receiving their pay outs.”

Naicker said members were suffering and wondered whether they would receive interest as members are complaining they are already feeling the pinch.

Naicker said attempts to get comments and requests to set up a meeting have been futile.

“This is an issue we hope to clarify with FNPF soon.”

Meanwhile the FNPF chief executive Aisake Taito clarified that all cleared pension files (those who have adhered to the full requirements, providing sufficient documentary evidence and filed before 29 February) have been paid out as of this morning.

“The ones that are on hold now are those that have been queried for various reasons including lack of information for payment,” he said.

“We have had a few cases where bank accounts provided are invalid. As the payments involve large amounts of money, we are re-verifying bank account details to ensure that the monies are deposited to the right accounts.

FNPF is expecting to pay out about $100 million in both lump sum and pension options for 9600 pensioners this month.

By Keresi Nauwakarawa and Mereani Gonedua