This was a civil case between the creditor ANZ; debtor Lord Lasike; and the Kingdom of Tonga, the garnishee.

The application by the bank arose from February 2 this year, when the Chief Justice O. G. Paulsen ruled in a civil case (CV35/2015) between Lord Lasike and the Kingdom of Tonga, that Lord Lasike was entitled to payment by the Kingdom of remuneration he ought to have earned as a member of the Legislative Assembly and as Speaker in the sum of TOP$223,385.

He said the bank had initially obtained a judgment against Lord Lasike, and applied for an order under Order 32 Supreme Court Rules to garnishee a debt it said was owed by the garnishee (the Kingdom) to Lord Lasike, in partial satisfaction of its judgment.

Lord Lasike opposed the order.

Facts

The court heard that initially on April 8, 2016 the Court of Appeal entered judgment for ANZ against Lord Lasike in a civil proceedings, in the sum of TOP$1,159,391 (inclusive of interest and costs).

Since then some payments had been received by ANZ in partial satisfaction of the judgment but there remains owing, as of 6 March 2017, the sum of TOP$1,147,191.

On February 2 this year, in the civil case between Lord Lasike and the Kingdom of Tonga, the Chief Justice ruled that Lord Lasike was entitled to be paid by the Kingdom of remuneration as a parliamentarian and Speaker the sum of TOP$223,385.

ANZ after having been notified of this ruling then filed this application on February 7, for a garnishee order seeking to garnishee all debts owing by the Kingdom to Lord Lasike up to the amount of its judgment

The Chief Justice said that on February  21 this year, Lord Lasike had filed a notice of opposition to the application: that the declaration made in this case was not coercive and did not create a debt owing by the Kingdom to him; that the Kingdom has immunity from garnishee proceedings, and that any money due to him from the Kingdom was subject to prior obligation to pay legal fees in an agreement between him and his counsel Mr Edwards.

The Chief Justice said it is correct that the declaration is not coercive and cannot be enforced by Lord Lasike using the execution processes of the Court.

"However, to obtain a garnishee order a judgment creditor need not establish that the judgment debtor has itself obtained judgment against the garnishee. All that must be shown is that the garnishee owes money to the judgment debtor. I have no doubt that the Kingdom owed Lord Lasike money and that this ground of opposition must fail."

The Kingdom has also acknowledged that it is indebted to Lord Lasike, he said.

Among other findings, the Chief Justice ruled that as a result, the judgment creditor's application successful.

The judgment creditor is to submit an order in Form 15 for approval by the Court, and is entitled to costs to be fixed by the Registrar if not agreed.