Rarotonga water agency To Tatou Vai (TTV) will take disciplinary action against the staff member who was pictured delivering coconuts for personal use in a company vehicle.

Cook Islands News received a photo showing a To Tatou Vai Landcruiser, registration number TTVII, with its tray full of coconuts and a teenager seated on the roof.

In a statement, To Tatou Vai chief executive Apii Timoti said: “This is not in accordance with TTV and CIIC (Cook Islands Investment Corporation) policies. This was not TTV business.”
“The employee has been identified and disciplinary action will be taken.”

To Tatou Vai has come under public scrutiny for the use of its vehicle fleet.

A letter writer to this newspaper sought explanation on the “30 or so vehicles in the TTV flee”, noting that only a half-dozen remain at the facility during evenings and weekends.

The writer in their letter published in Monday’s edition expressed concern about taxpayer-funded fuel costs associated with this after-hours usage.

Timoti, in his response published in its entirety in today’s Letters to the Editor section, said it has 19 vehicles and two of those are sucker trucks.

“The second comment presumes if in the evenings vehicles are not at TTV then they must be at employee’s homes. That presumption is incorrect,” he said.

“Water reticulation, like power supply, is not an 8 to 4 business. Vehicles are out on the field at all hours.

“So the general presumption ‘not at the office must be at someone’s private home’ is incorrect.”

Timoti also revealed that their monthly fuel costs average $8800.

“It must be kept in mind there are 11 intakes, most of them quite remote and accessed only by, in most part, unformed roads,” he explained.  

“Many of these vehicles do at least 100km per day per vehicle accessing the intakes at least twice a day, up to four times some days to fill up the reservoirs.”