Selemana Fonua who was sentenced to two-years after being convicted of theft and falsification of accounts, was taken straight to Hu'atolitoli Prison today, after loosing her appeal.

The Appeal Court in judgment dismissed her appeal against conviction after finding that all grounds of her appeal failed. "The convictions must be upheld."

The grounds for her appeal included her submission that the judge erred in admitting in evidence the unsigned spreadsheets, insufficient evidence to support her conviction for theft, judge also erred in admitting in evidence attendance of registers for August 31 to September 25, 2015, among others.

The Appeal Court said once issues affecting the admissibility of the business records are disposed of the case against the appellant was overwhelming.

“The evidence points irrefutably to her having falsified the spreadsheets by the addition of ghost workers and of her taking the additional case generated by their inclusion.”

Conviction

Selemana was employed by Tanoa Hotel (Tonga) Ltd. on March 11, 2015 as an administration officer, and assisted in preparing the payroll.

The court heard at the time the hotel was being refurbished and around 100 employees were involved. She was required to prepare a spreadsheet and a calculation of the amount each earned.

The spreadsheet was sent to Tanoa's office in Fiji for approval and authorisation. Following approval and payment to Tanoa's Tongan bank account, a cheque would be cashed and employees paid the sums recorded on the speadsheets.

The Crown case was that Selemana falsified the spreadsheet by adding the names of non-existent employees, so called ghost workers, and kept the cash drawn for their wages.

The sum involved was initially alleged to be $44,098. It was reduced to $23,039 in the course of the trial and ultimately found to amount to $21,299 pa'anga.

In March this year, she was sentenced to concurrent sentences of two-years imprisonment on each charge. The final six-months suspended on condition that she commits no further offences punishable by imprisonment during suspension.

However, with the dismissal of her appeal she now serves her sentence.