Parliament questions Tonga Trust Fund trustees [1]
Tuesday, September 25, 2001 - 10:00. Updated on Thursday, February 18, 2016 - 18:48.
From Matangi Tonga Magazine, Vol. 16, no. 2, September 2001.
On September 25 in the Tongan Legislature, the Deputy Prime Minister Hon. Tevita Tupou, elaborated a new scheme for recovering the Tonga Trust Fund.
He was trying to answer queries that were raised in the House following a report on the state of the TTF that was made a week earlier by the Prime Minister.
Parliament was clearly split in half, dividing those who supported the new scheme for the initial investment of US$20 million, which should have matured in June this year, to be extended for another five years; and those who were against it, and called to withdraw the controversial TTF investment with Millennium Asset Management Services.
As trustees were desperately trying to quieten public outrage over a defaulted US$26 million payment due to the TTF, a petition was presented to the House for a sub-committee to be formed to gather information about the status of the Fund. At about the same time, a motion was presented to the House by the Ha‘apai No. 2 People’s Representative, Teisino Fuko, to impeach both the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Education over their alleged mismanagement of the TTF.
In an effort to verify the information released by the Financial Adviser, J. D. Bogdonoff, and the Trustees, government was ready to send the Auditor General, Pohiva Tui‘onetoa and an assistant to the Uniteed States to visit Millennium Asset Management Services and investigate the status of the Tonga Trust Fund.