Convicted hotel pay supervisor bailed until appeal [1]
Friday, April 20, 2018 - 17:45
Selemana Fonua who received a prison sentence after being convicted of theft and false accounting, was granted bail pending her appeal against conviction and sentence, that will likely be held in September this year.
A former pay supervisor at Tanoa Hotel (Tonga), she was sentenced last month to two-years imprisonment with the last six months suspended, on two counts of falsification of accounts and theft after a trial alone before Hon Mr Justice Cato, at the Supreme Court.
The appeal is likely to be heard in the second session of the Court of Appeal in September this year.
"I am satisfied that the grounds for granting bail in section 4B(1)(b) and (c) of the Bail Act are made out."
Lord Paulsen had told the counsel for the appellant that she might have been better to rely on this section as her client was facing 18-months imprisonment but a six-months wait before her appeal will be heard.
"I am told that with remission the appellant will likely serve just 12-months of her sentence. In those circumstances it appears to me that the appeal will not be heard before a substantial portion of the sentence has been served."
The conditions of her bail requires her to surrender to the custody of the court on September 3, 2018 at 10:00am. She must also surrender her passport to the Supreme Court Registrar, is put on a "no fly list" and is not to leave Tongatapu without the court’s permission.
She must also report to the Central Police station fortnightly between 10am and 5pm starting on April 20, among other conditions.
Conviction
Hon Justice Cato in sentencing had found, that on about 16 occasions between May 22, 2015 and December 3 on the same year, she had had dishonestly manufactured a false spreadsheet, which included the names of a number of fictitious of “ghost” employees, inflating the wages bill for the Tanoa Hotel (Tonga).
He was satisfied that she did this deliberately so as to receive the inflated amounts, which was $21,299 pa'anga.