Fiji’s interim prime minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, has been criticized after a hostile takeover of the indigenous Fijian investment company, Fiji Holdings.

More than half of the company’s directors were replaced last week and a new chairman appointed by Commodore Bainimarama.

Former opposition leader, Mick Beddoes, has expressed concern at the developments, saying engineering a hostile takeover of a company under normal circumstances is one thing, but the hijacking of a board by an unelected government is another.

He says Fijian Holdings is an institution that symbolizes the successful entry into Fiji’s usually Indian, and minority-dominated commercial sector, by Indigenous Fijians.