The Prime Minister Hon ‘Akilisi Pohiva has been given time to file an appeal against the grounds on which a Magistrate’s order was made in awarding costs against him, after he took unsuccessful private prosecutions against Princess Pilolevu Tuita and others last year.

The Prime Minister as plaintiff appeared before Hon Chief Justice Paulsen during chambers on Friday, January 30 at the Nuku'alofa Supreme Court.

The Chief Justice granted him time to file his appeal with the court.

The situation arose out of a judgement in the case Pohiva v Tu’ivakano, when Pohiva took unsuccessful private prosecutions against four respondents, Lord Tu’ivakano, HRH Princess Salote Pilolevu Tuita, William Clive Edwards and the Friendly Islands Satellite Communications Ltd. The prosecutions were unsuccessful in the Magistrate’s Courts and again on appeal to the Supreme Court.

Principal Police Magistrate Salesi Mafi had ordered in September last year that Pohiva pay $22,000, comprising awards of costs for both senior and junior counsel.

The former Chief Justice Michael Scott in October last year ordered Pohiva to pay $22,000 in legal costs to the Registrar of the Supreme Court by close of business on 21 October 2014, in order for him to stand as a candidate in the General Election last November.