Ballu Khan

Who is Ballu Khan?

Ballu Khan is an Indo-Fijian businessman . His company, Tui Management Services, is the joint owner with the Vanua Development Corporation of Pacific Connex, which sells SAP software and has sought to enter the 3G mobile telephony market in Fiji. VDC is the commercial wing of the Native Land Trust Board which administers indigenous land holdings throughout Fiji. He is also a major supporter of the Ovalau Rugby Union team.

Khan is known for his close ties with the former government of Laisenia Qarase, which was deposed in the military coup of 5 December 2006. He has a tense relationship with the Republic of Fiji Military Forces, which predates the coup.

The Fiji Sun reported on 25 October 2006 that Colonel Pita Driti, the Land Force Commander, had condemned Khan for employing former Counter Revolutionary Warfare Unit soldiers as bodyguards. The CRW was implicated in a mutiny which left eight soldiers dead on 2 November 2000. Driti and Captain Esala Teleni, the Deputy Commander of the Military, issued a veiled threat to Khan, warning that the Military was in a position to stop former CRW soldiers from working for him.

Following the coup, armed soldiers raided the PCX office and Khan's private residence on 9 December 2006, and arrested six bodyguards who had been CRW soldiers. Documents and hard drives were removed from the office, according to Colonel Driti. Khan's house was raided again on 12 December. All of these raids took place while Khan was out of Fiji.