Two men were released on bail today after they were stopped from leaving Tonga at Fua’amotu International Airport on Monday, 11 January.  

The men, Gungchang Xiao and William Hu, were reported to have been on a one-week business trip to Nuku’alofa and had used Tongan passports to exit Tonga when they were stopped and detained by the Tonga Police overnight.

The two accused who appeared before Magistrate Mafi this afternoon were represented by Laki Niu.

The Crown represented by ‘Aminiasi Kefu asked the court for the two accused to be further detained in custody for two more days because of concern by police that they might flee Tonga.

They are charged with using forged documents in relation to forged Tongan passports.

The Crown claimed the passports were forged because the two accused had never been nationalized as Tongan citizens. Hu is also alleged to have had a different name on his Tongan passport, which was different from his Chinese passport.

"We have contacted the Chinese Embassy in Nuku’alofa for them to confirm their names to China," he told the court.

At the same time, Laki Niu for the defence, submitted to the court that the two accused be released on bail because the charges against them included that they knew about the forgery but this passport was issued by the Immigration division of the Government of Tonga.

He submitted that there was no strong evidence from the Crown to prove that the men knew the forgery, for them to be further detained, he said.

Laki told the court the men came here for a week for business and were to return to China but were stopped. Their passports including both Chinese and Tongan and money of Chinese, New Zealand and Australian currency was detained by the police.

Magistrate Mafi released the men on bail to appear at the lower court on Monday, 18 January upon strict conditions, including sureties with passports remaining in police custody and they must answer to the Central Police station daily.

A Police investigation has been ongoing in regards to alleged passport forgery. Other people were charged in December last year.

A Tonga Police "Passports Taskforce", headed by Deputy Police Commissioner, ‘Unga Fa’oa, is investigating allegations of forgery and the illegal issuance of Tongan passports.