It was supposed to be a lifechanging moment being crowned the first Miss Universe Fiji since 1981.
Manshika Prasad, 24, ‘was just in awe’, according to Jennifer Chan, one of four judges on a panel of seven who voted for her victory.
Chan told BBC News: ‘She’s the embodiment of that good-hearted person who deserves it – it just affirmed to me that I’d picked the right girl.’
Two days later, the title was gone and she’d been pulled from a trip to Mexico to compete for the Miss Universe title this November.
Someone else had been crowned in her place – Nadine Roberts, a 30-year-old model and property developer in Sydney whose mother is from Fiji. She had come runner-up.
In a press release, Miss Universe Fiji claimed the ‘correct procedures’ had not been followed in a vote rigged to favour a ‘Fiji Indian’ for the benefit of organise Grant Dwyer – who voted for Ms Roberts.
Lux Projects, which bought the licence to hold the competition, already had a representative on the judging panel – who was absent from Ms Prasad’s celebratory boat trip.
But the property development company claimed it held an eighth, determining vote, which it would have granted to Ms Roberts.
This was news to Ms Chan, who said: ‘It wasn’t on the website, it wasn’t anywhere. Besides, how can you vote on a contest if you’re not even there?’
Suspicion was swirling, and one of the panel had their eye on Riri Febriani, the missing judge, who had claimed she was too busy to join the party.
Instead she spent the day on the phone to a man called ‘Jamie’, another judge, Melissa White, claimed.
Ms White believes this to be Jamie McIntyre, an Australian businessman with links to Lux Projects and a wife who is none other than Ms Roberts, the BBC reports.
He was handed a 10-year ban from doing business in Australia in 2016 for his involvement in fraudulent property investment schemes that lost investors £3.6million.
Mr McIntyre appeared in a video on Lux Project’s Instagram page, which also published a link to one of his companies.
But his representatives said: ‘[Mr McIntyre] isn’t a director or shareholder of the MUF licensee company, but has acted as an adviser, as he is a shareholder in associated companies.’
Ms Roberts might still be calling herself the ‘real Miss Universe Fiji 2024’ on Instagram, but Miss Universe Organization has intervened to take back the crown.
‘What an incredible journey this has been’, Mr Prasad posted on Instagram after her Miss Fiji 2024 title was restored.
Ms White praised her conduct, saying: ‘She’s a brilliant, compassionate, and beautiful young woman, who didn’t deserve this.
‘We just wanted the truth to come out and now it has.’
Metro has contacted Ms Prasad, Ms Roberts, Miss Universe Fiji and Lux Projects for comment.
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