Offices of the company formerly headed by Fiji coup leader George
Speight were set alight this morning in a suspected arson attack.
The offices were occupied by Fiji Hardwood Corporation, which last year
sacked Speight for alleged misappropriation of funds.
A security guard at the building says he saw someone throw a firebomb
and run away.
Australian and New Zealand tourists in an adjacent hotel were evacuated
as the fire threatened to spread.
The fire is the biggest since the outbreak of a wave of looting and arson
attacks following the Friday coup in which gunmen, led by Speight, took
Prime Minister Mahendhra Chaudhry and members of his government
hostage.
A total of 22 buildings have been destroyed in arson attacks in Suva since
the coup began.
The Fiji Hardwood Corporation office on Suva's McGregor road was a few minutes
ago burnt to the ground.
Fire-fighters are on the scene trying to douse the flames which have completely
razed the building which used to house the Fiji Hardwood
Corpoartion, a government statutory body that coup leader, George Speight used
to head its board. He was terminated from that post by the
Agriculture minister, Poseci Bune last year.
The National Fire Authority are trying to establish whether an accident or
arson was responsible for the blaze that consumed the building owned
by Opposition Parliamentarian, Jim Ah Koy.
This text may have been edited to protect the writer.
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