The bad smell of Tonga's lost $US26 million Trust Fund keeps emerging whenever Jesse the jester thinks it is time for a wise crack.

This time the lawyers for Jesse Bogdonoff, the kings' former jester, are reported to be offering up to USD$1 million in an out of court settlement if the Tonga government drops its long running law suit against Bogdonoff and another five people and companies named in the suit filed in San Francisco in June 2002.

Patrick Richardson, lawyer for Bogdonoff, told the overseas press that both sides would be relieved at an out of court settlement. "It's a very complicated case and both sides realised that there are pros and cons to each of their cases and that you have to look at the potential downsides."

Tonga accused Bogdonoff and Millennium Asset Management, which went bankrupt in 2002, of losing just over half the money on risky investments, and siphoning off the rest in bogus fees and commissions. Tonga claimed that Bogdonoff conspired with two men and other associates to take USD$6.25 million in secret commissions and fees on viatical investments.

Tonga's Minister of Finance, one of the trustees of the Tonga Trust Fund, is unwilling to confirm whether or not the government will accept the out of court settlement. The acting Secretary for Finance, Meleseini Lomu, told Matangi Tonga Online this week: "no comments on this issue at this time."

The TTF trustees in July 1999 authorised Bogdonoff, as their investment adviser, to go ahead and invest its $US26.5 million, but by 2001 it became known that the repayments could not be met. The Tongan Auditor General was send to the USA to investigate, and on his return reported that Tonga has lost its $US26.5 million trust fund.

The unanswered question is, has the Tonga government agreed to the $US1 million out-of-court settlement offered by the Jester, and if they have, what were the downsides to bringing the case into open court?