By Linny Folau
Fine Tevita Fifita (31), who is currently serving life imprisonment for the unlawful importation of 1157.4 grams of methamphetamine, was further sentenced on two charges of bribery after he offered money to a Police Officer and a Customs Officer in an attempt to conceal the illicit items imported.
He was sentenced to four years imprisonment for two bribery charges.
Justice Tupou in sentencing him on 15 August ordered that the sentence be served concurrent to his life imprisonment initially imposed in June. This was after he was found guilty on all charges at the Supreme Court in Nuku'alofa.
The court heard that he offered to bribe a member of Tonga Police, when he offered to give money to Sergeant Sione Punaivaha to help him not to get arrested for importing illicit drugs. He also offered to bribe a Government Servant, when he offered to give money to a Customs Officer, to induce and abstain her from reporting that suspected illicit items that were found in buckets that he possessed.
The offending occured when a container containing a 4x4 foot crate was shipped by Lolani Finau from USA to Tonga via S.F. Oceania Ltd. on the MV Mount Cameron. Originally, the crate was consigned to Unaloto Tupou, stated the judge.
On 13 April 2023, prior to the arrival of the ship in Tonga, the defendant agreed with Lolani to change the consignee for the crate to his partner and co-accused, Vaivevea Mafi’s name. The defendant claimed that he had not cleared a crate from abroad before but that Mafi was experienced in that respect, thus the use of her name.
Then on 27 April, the crate was inspected at the S.F. Oceania Ltd. Warehouse at Maúfanga and during inspection of the crate, Customs officer ‘Iuna Fifita required the content of the crate to be unloaded for inspection. During that process ‘Iuna noticed the defendant placed a bucket of washing detergent he had removed from the crate, amongst items already inspected.
Iuna asked the defendant to bring the bucket to her. She opened the bucket with some difficulty and while checking the content of the bucket, felt something unusual inside. When she pulled it out, it was a package wrapped in plastic. When ‘Iuna asked the defendant about the package, he moved close and whispered to her in Tongan translated to (don't it’s for smoking and I will give you money). She understood Fifita’s statement to be a bribe offered for her to close the bucket and to deal with him about the matter on the side.
At the same time, another bucket was found to contain a second package. The buckets were seized and the matter reported to Sergeant Sione Punaivaha, and when he encountered the defendant, he looked worried and unsettled.
The defendant ranted on how the crate was originally consigned to another before it was changed of Mafi’s name. Then addressing Punaivaha, the defendant said, “tokoni mai ‘e ‘oatu ho’o koini” (help me and I will give you money). The police officer understood the defendant to be offering him a bribe to avoid arrest.
The seized packages were tested using the Trunarc Analyzer. The content of both the packages tested positive for methamphetamine, weighing in the first bucket 262.25grams and the second bucket had 895.15 grams
The Crown submitted that the sentence imposed here are to be served concurrent to the defendant’s life imposed on 6 June, 2025 after they were found guilty and convicted for the offence of importing 1157.4 grams of methamphetamine, a class A illicit drug.
Life Imprisonment
The judge stated that on 6 June 2025, the defendant and Vaivevea Mafi were found guilty and convicted them of importing the 1157.4 grams of methamphetamine, and they were both sentenced to life imprisonment.
Meanwhile, the maximum statutory penalty for offering to bribe a member of Tonga Police is a fine not exceeding $25,000, or imprisonment for a period not exceeding seven years, or both. The maximum statutory penalty for offering to bribe a government servant is three years imprisonment.
She then sentenced the defendant to a final aggregate sentence of four years imprisonment to be served concurrent to the life imprisonment sentence (within or together) to the life imprisonment sentence he is currently serving.
The Prison Commissioner may direct the defendant to participate in any rehabilitation program as he may see fit, to be arranged and monitored by prison officers, ordered the judge.
