Looking for answers at the highest levels [1]
Thursday, December 20, 2001 - 11:00. Updated on Thursday, February 11, 2016 - 17:59.
From Matangi Tonga Magazine, Vol. 16, no. 3, December 2001.
This issue of the Matangi Tonga was going to be our Christmas 2001 issue, but because so many big stories broke before the end of 2001, it has taken us longer to put it together.
The stories in the news that the King was very ill, and that he was actually dying, but at the same time was being blackmailed over a mysterious $63 billion investment overseas were not easy to clarify. In the end the only way to throw some light on the matters was to try and make an appointment to interview the King. Because of the King’s very busy schedule this was not possible until just before the Christmas printing break.
We found His Majesty, as usual, engrossed in imaginative new ways to bring a healthier economy to Tonga. He firmly believes that the interest by the United Arab Emirates to establish a friendly business relationship with Tonga could be the beginning of a valuable working relationship between the two countries.
The status of the Tonga Trust Fund remains a hot topic, and we have never before received so many expressions of concern and letters from our readers, some of which are published here. Sadly, nothing more will be known about extent of the losses suffered by the TTF until the findings by the government Auditor General and a private investigator are publicised.
The saying that, “it is like opening up a can of worms,” is an appropriate way of describing what we are discovering about the complexities surrounding the troubled Tonga Trust Fund.
Already there are unconfirmed reports of big pay-offs, with the government newspaper the Chronicle claiming that as much as US$4 million went to certain people during the transaction in July 1999, when US$26.5 million was taken from the Tonga Trust Fund bank deposits to be invested on the recommendations of J. D. Bogdonoff, the financial adviser.
The decision by the Princess Regent to force the resignation of two Cabinet Ministers for their mismanagement of the TTF, has unravelled another dimension to the TTF saga.
The ousted Minister of Justice’s challenging response in the media completely shifted the focus of concern from the TTF to an opening confrontation between government and TongaSat.
The confrontation also appears to be one between the Tongan Cabinet and Privy Council, probably because Cabinet in 1997 decided to terminate the government’s agreement with TongaSat, a decision that was later reversed by the King in Privy Council.
Confrontations have also emerged between the former Minister of Justice and the Minister of Police, Tevita Tupou and Hon. Clive Edwards. In the eyes of the public they were the pillars of justice in the country, and if they were at war, one wonders how justice could be administered effectively?
Cheap thrills politics have been diverting people’s attention from the real problems, such as the rapidly declining value of the pa‘anga during the year, and the urgent need to boost exports.
Meanwhile, Tonga’s business talks to attract Arab investment and American technology, are something new for 2002.
The search by a fledgling American aerospace company for a rocket launching site in Tonga is a high flying project that might attract both foreign investment and American technology, even though it sounds just as crazy as commercial aeroplane flight did in 1903. It is all the more interesting because Tonga’s space program made a giant leap when the Tongan company, TongaSat, placed its own satellite into one of Tonga’s registered orbital positions late in 2001.
So while economic statistics are definitely not in our favour at the moment, perhaps the future has something more exciting in store for us, and might be more abundant and more exciting than we have ever imagined. We hope you will enjoy reading this issue of the Matangi Tonga . The Publisher and staff wish all of our readers in Tonga and around the world the very best for 2002.