Malia Kolokiloloma Fanua was found guilty of six counts, that included forging her exam results in order to get further funding from Tonga Police, while studying for a Bachelor of Arts, at the University of the South Pacific Tonga campus.

Hon. Mr Justice Laki Niu in a trial verdict on June 26 at the Supreme Court, convicted the accused police officer on four forgery counts and two for knowingly dealing with a forged document.

The court found that on January 26, 2017, the accused made false documents by altering her exam results for her subjects that included Legislation, from a grade C to a grade ''B+. She did this on her Notification of Exam Results for Semester II in 2016 with the intention that Tonga Police would act on it as if it was a genuine document.

She also made a false document on other subjects, including Courts and Dispute Resolution, and forged the Notification of Exam Results by submitting her promissory note application for further funding from Tonga Police, knowing that the exam result was a forgery.

In addition, on July 11, 2017 the accused made a false document by altering her exam results for “Legal Ethics” altered her results and on other subjects. She also forged another Notification of Exam Results for Semester 1 of 2017 by submitting it to support her promissory note application for further funding from Tonga Police.

The judge said, after hearing the Crown witnesses (the accused did not give evidence nor call any on her behalf) he was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt of the charges proved against her.

Evidence

The Court heard from the evidence, that Australia and New Zealand gave aid to Tonga Police to further the studies of Tonga Police members by attending and completing subjects at the (USP) Campus in Tongatapu.

To obtain the fund, the member signed a promissory note to repay the fund to Tonga Police if he/she failed to pass or complete the subjects and attached an invoice from USP for the costs of the subject or subjects for which funding was being sought.

The members of the Tonga Police (and other persons in Tonga) attend at the USP campus and upon registration for the courses and subjects they undertake, they each received a student ID number, which allows them to access his or her exam results.

The exams sat by the students in Tonga were sent to Fiji for marking and after about 4- 5 weeks, the results or marks were then entered by the USP staff in Fiji into the computer system. The students could then access their individual results with their secret code and have them printed out in Tonga.

The accused had been taking her Bachelor of Arts, as well as other policing courses since 2005 and was receiving funding from the Australia and New Zealand aid program for attending and undertaking those courses up to and including the first semester of 2017.

In the second semester of 2016, she took four subjects and in the first semester of 2017, she took two subjects both for which she had received funding from the aid program.

In July 2017, she applied to have further funding for the second semester of 2017 for two subjects, namely Criminal Law & Procedure and Property Law, and attached an invoice from USP for $1,013.50 for those two subjects and also her exam results for her two subjects in the first semester of 2017, to her promissory note as was required. 


A Project Officer for the aid program in the Tonga Police at the time, noticed that the marks that the accused had for her two subjects, that of ''B+" for Legal Ethics and ''B" for Tourism in Less Dev. Countries, appeared to be too heavily or boldly typed in. She checked it out with the USP campus, and discovered the forgery.

In addition, the electronic record kept and used by the USP was such that nobody, except an authorized person, could access the exam results of the students, and that only the student whose results are concerned could access those results with a secret code only he/ she alone has, said the judge.

The judge found the accused guilty of all counts, and to be sentenced on a later date.