Lawyer imprisoned for failure to pay $20,000 fine [1]
Wednesday, April 18, 2007 - 18:48. Updated on Monday, July 20, 2015 - 13:39.
Chief Justice Anthony Ford ordered 'Aimini Tu'ivai, yesterday to serve a one-year prison sentence for a default in the payment of a $20,000 fine that was imposed on him on January 26, 2006.
At the time Tu'ivai, a lawyer, was found guilty by a jury on charges of bribery and customs duty evasion, relating to the importation of 600 cartons of Bounty Rum from Fiji.
The Bounty Rum case was tried by jury and the two accused were 'Amini Tu'ivai and the Noble Veikune, who was then the Speaker of the Tongan Parliament. A third accomplice, 'Aisea To'a chose not to be tried by a jury but by the then Chief Justice who found him not guilty.
Chief Justice Robin Webster sentenced Tu'ivai to pay a fine of $20,000 before February 16, 2007, or face an imprisonment sentence of one year.
Noble Veikune on the other hand was stripped of his noble title and lost his seat in the Tongan parliament.
Tu'ivai failed to pay his fine and a warrant was out for his arrest and yesterday at the Supreme Court Chief Justice Ford ordered him to go to prison for one year.