Former senior civil servant jailed for fraud [1]
Wednesday, December 12, 2018 - 18:55
A 35-year-old woman who was convicted of serious fraudulent conversion by a government servant in Vava’u was sentenced to three-years and three-months imprisonment on December 10, at the Supreme Court in Nuku'alofa.
Lesieli Halafihi was convicted by a jury of converting $71,500.42 pa’anga during her employment as Chief Cashier for the Ministry of Finance Vava'u branch.
Hon. Mr Justice Cato in his sentence at the Supreme Court said she was a senior and trusted employee, who made various false entries in account books, which an audit revealed.
She had access to the books of account and the money for which she was responsible and by the end of June 2017 this was found to be in deficit. None of the money had been repaid.
The judge said parliament has directed the courts that civil servants who steal from Government must be severely punished.
"The starting point for this offending, as I have said, must reflect the higher maximum penalty Parliament laid down in order to foster high standards of ethical behaviour by government servants so that government business is not adversely compromised by dishonest practices, especially by senior civil servants. The sum involved by Tongan standards is significant and led to a time consuming audit."
He said this constituted a serious breach of trust and a suitable starting point was four-years imprisonment.
From this, he allowed her nine-months mitigation for her previous good character, community work and because being a sole parent, imprisonment will adversely affect her children, their relationship with her and her ability to provide for them.
“The sentence I impose upon her is three years and three months imprisonment, backdated to the date of her remand in custody.”
The judge also said what concerned him was that she still did not accept responsibility for her offending and this was mentioned in the probation report.
“I find this troubling because she had admitted in a record of interview complicity in the offending. I excluded this record of interview because of breaches of the procedures laid down in the Police Act for taking records of interview, but did not think that the irregularities affected the reliability of the admissions gained,” he said.
In the probation report, she appeared to shift responsibility to a third party who has yet to be tried, he having elected a judge alone trial. She did not give evidence at her trial.
"I do not accept that any possible role that her co- offender might have had minimizes her responsibility as the head cashier for the deficit."
After considering, she is a first time offender with two children, the judge said there is more to be gained in her case from a rehabilitative aspect by suspending at least a part of her sentence so she can be united with her children sooner and can take an active role in their lives, although that period must be limited because of her failure to accept responsibility.
He suspended the final six-months of her sentence on strict terms.
In Tonga, the maximum sentence for this offending is 10-years imprisonment.