New MP Simon Court was deported from Fiji in 2017

New Act Party MP Simon Court says he was deported from Fiji in 2017 for raising questions about the work done by Chinese Communist Party contractors.

Court, a civil and environmental engineer, was working for global engineering consultancy MWH Global at the time to help improve the road network.

In September 2017, he and another MWH Global worker were deported from Fiji. A week later, the Fiji Roads Authority terminated its contract with MWH Global, citing wage disputes.

Court said the Fijian government had previously turned to China after the 2006 coup to borrow money for infrastructure projects.

“Those CCP (Chinese Communist Party) contractors did not meet the quality standard and it seemed that from my evaluations they had overcharged based on the work they had done,” Court told Heather Du Plessis-Allan of Newstalk ZB. .

He said this led to a salary dispute between the Fiji Roads Authority and MWH Global.

“The Fiji government used this as a small reason to ditch the company.”

The court said he and others, including entire families, were given seven days to leave the country.

You are not even sure how the issue was resolved or if MWH Global was paid for the work it did.

“I don’t know how that ended.”

The Fiji Highways Authority reportedly charged MWH with extortion, breach of contract and damage to the country, but the Court denies this.

“I didn’t see any evidence of that when I was there.”

He said he revealed his deportation to the Act Party before he was registered as a candidate for the election. At number five on the list, he is one of nine new MPs for this term.

“You have to be absolutely clear about what the perception might be around this. We have a ‘no surprises’ policy: number one is ‘no surprises’ and number two is ‘no surprises’.”

Having deportation on his record had made traveling abroad a bit difficult, he said.

“Fortunately, the company I worked for was very supportive of me in reversing the expulsion order.

“Going into Australia, I mean it’s funny that you go there and hand over your passport and they look at you like you’ve committed a heinous crime and put you in a room with the bad guys while my girlfriend rolls her eyes and says,” Why don’t we go to Queenstown? “

“Someday we’ll get over it. I’m sure it’ll all come out in the wash.”