From the House, an English translation summary from the Tongan vernacular, by Pesi Fonua. Tonga Legislative Assembly, Minute No. 4, June 12, 2007.

- Bill to Amend the Nationality Act, final readings

- Four Bills to Amend Customs and Excise Duty Acts

Tuesday June 12:

NobleTu'ilakepa reminded the Speaker that the Bill to Amend the Nationality Act was passed the day before by the Whole House Committee and it was awaiting process by the Legislature.

The Speaker called for the second reading and the voting on the Bill.

It was carried 23-0.

The Speaker called for its third reading, and final voting.

It was carried 23-0.

15 Cabinet Ministers

'Akilisi Pohiva expressed his concern over the outcome of voting in the House the day before, which clearly showed an imbalance in the structure of the House, because there were 15 Cabinet Ministers.

The Minister of Education, Sports and Youth reminded the member that the Tongan Parliament is a united House, and there are no divisions.

'Akilisi said that that was the intention for one House, but there are three tables, the Nobles, the People's Representatives and the Cabinet Ministers with their own vested interest, and until there is balanced representation in the House there will be no peace in the House.

Noble Tu'ilakepa wondered what bothered the member, who appeared to try to drag the House to discuss what he was interested in.

The Speaker asked the two members to cool down, he asked 'Akilisi not to be downhearted and not to deviate the proceeding of the House.

Noble Tu'ilakepa said that he wanted to help the member to free his soul. He said that the social structure of the country has been like that from the beginning. If he was a king he would make the member a noble, and that would stop him from being so jealous in the House.

'Akilisi responded that he was just expressing an opinion and if he did not like it, that was his own free choice.

The Speaker called on the two members to cool down. The Legislature dissolved into the Whole House Committee and the Chairman, Noble Tu'ilakepa took his chair.

Four Bills

The Attorney General and the Minister of Justice said that there were four bills in the working agenda: a Bill for the Management of the Custom Duty and Excise Duty 2007; Bill No. 3 a Bill for a Custom Duty Act; No. 4, a Bill for Excise Duty 2007; and No. 5, a Bill for an Act to Replace the Custom Duty and the Excise Duty Act 2007. She said that these Bills were inter-related and the prime purpose for their introduction was to modernise and to speed up the process of tax collection.

The Chairman called for debate to start with the Bill to Manage Custom Duties and Excise Duties.

Penalty for bounced cheques

'Isileli Pulu expressed his concern over what he felt was an excessive penalty of $1,000 for the payment of Customs Duty with a bounced cheque, and additional $10 for every day the penalty is not paid. He suggested for the taxpayer be given 14 days in case he or she had a problem with a bank overdraft.

Samiu Vaipulu pointed out that a delay of 14 days would enable the tax evader to vanish. He said the writing of dud cheques was rife and he suggested for the House to consider increasing the penalty.

'Uliti Uata suggested for a deletion of the part of the Bill about penalising the writing of dud cheques, because it was only protecting government from such a crime. Instead, he suggested for government to draft a new bill, which would protect both government and the private sector from such crime.

Samiu Vaipulu reminded the member that the House passed in 2005 an amendment to the Criminal Act, enabling individuals to sue such offenders with criminal offences.

The Prime Minister suggested for the penalty to remain as it was written on the Bill. He said that the offence was rife, but he suggested that there should also be a concerted effort by parties involved to deal with the problem, such as the banks. He said that in the French territories, a bank would honour the first dud cheque that a client would write, but a second one would automatically get the police involved.

Make the laws work

'Akilisi Pohiva said that government should have dealt with this problem a long time ago, but the problem was that the law does not work, even if we make new law we still can't stop people from writing dud cheques. The point is for law-makers to make the laws work.

'Uliti Uata with regards to the inspection of containers at the wharf, he said that if the Customs wanted to inspect the contents of a container, then government should pay for the unloading and the checking of the container.

The Minister of Finance said that the owner of a container is allowed to handle the content of a container because they don't trust a custom officer, who may mishandle their goods or steal their goods.

Inspection of containers

'Uliti Uata asked the Chairman for the committee to vote on his motion for government to pay for the handling of goods at the wharf if the customs want to check the content of the container. He said that government was hiding, while forcing people to pay, meanwhile just collecting taxes.

The Minister of Finance said that he had been a Minister for seven years, and during his seven years in the House he had heard the PRs complaining about corruption at the wharf, and what they are trying to do is to stamp out corruption from the wharf.

He said that the content of a container is checked only because of the incomplete documents that are presented to the customs.

Clause 64

The Minister of Justice made an amendment to Clause 64, that the owner of the container will pay for the checking of the content of the container if it is done outside normal working hours, but if it is done during normal hours it will be paid for by government.

'Uliti Uata pointed out that all penalties from Clause 91 onward were $100,000 or prison sentence of ten years. He proposed to reduce it to $10,000 or a three years sentence.

The Governor of Ha'apai reminded the House that during the past few years a customs officer was knocked unconscious and regained consciousness after he was rushed to Vaiola. He supported the Bill.

Sunia Fili supported the proposal for government to pay for the unloading to check the contents of a container.

Minister of Tourism asked the member, whom did he think would pay if government paid for the unloading? The answer, of course, is the people. He said to allow the people to come and unload their goods if they want to.

Vili Helu told the House that it was the responsibility of government to handle all goods. He said that this was the practice in New Zealand and Australia, and the only involvement of individual and businesses was when they collected their goods from the Customs Warehouse.

Noble Tangipa reminded member not to bring lies into the House. He once worked as a labourer in a Customs Warehouse in Auckland and did all the handling of goods.

The Chairman asked the Minister of Finance, why did government wanted to amend the Law.

The Minister of Finance said that the people requested to amend the law. He said there were consultation meetings and during those meetings, the people expressed their views.

Sunia called on the Chairman for the committee to vote on their proposed amendment to Clause 64.

The Chairman called for votes on the Minister of Justice's amendment that the owner of the container will pay for the checking of the content of the container if it is done outside normal working hours, but if it is done during normal hours it will be paid for by government. It was rejected 11-14. For it were 'Akilisi, 'Isileli, Clive, Vili Helu, 'Uliti, 'Osai, Sunia Lepolo, Lasike, Luani and Havea Tu'iha'ateiho.

Penalties

'Uliti reminded the Chairman of his motion to reduce the penalty from $100,000 to $10,000 and the prison sentence from 10 years to three years.

The Chairman said that the motion was not seconded.

'Akilisi seconded the motion.

The Minister of Justice reminded the House that for years there have been accusations for corruption in the Customs Department, and the reason for increasing the penalty was to put an end to corruption.

'Uliti told the House that the Minister made some seditious remarks a few years ago, but she was not charged.

Samiu Vaipulu reminded the House that the events of 16/11 were due in part to a claim by some people that some people were corrupting the Customs Department, and now it appeared that some wanted to reduce the penalty and perpetuate corruption. He moved for the penalty on the Bill to remain.

Under-sized lobsters

Clive Edwards did not think there was a good reason for the increase in penalty, because even under the current law he knew of only one case against two men for importing $60,000 worth of goods. He said that government confiscated the goods and one man is serving a prison sentence. He felt that the penalty was too high, and he gave an example of how a penalty was too high. He said he has a client, a couple who have been charged for under-sized Lobster, and the penalty is $10,000 for one, but they were caught with five.

The Minister of Tourism said that the member was making a provocative waste of time comment. He stressed that the amendment set the maximum $100,000 and 10 years and it was for the judge to decide on any figures below that.

Clive said that if the member did not like his speech, then he could speak on his point and express his own views.

The Chairman told the member to come back to the point of his speech.

'Akilisi Pohiva said that if we looked at what happened in the past, the problem had been the inability of government to enforce the law and there are businesses that don't pay taxes. He said that it is common knowledge among business people of the goings on of Shoreline. He said that he complained to the Minister of Police in the House to investigate the transference of the approval by the Reserve Bank for the transferring of millions of dollars overseas for the purchase of goods, which to this day had never arrived in Tonga. He said that the Minister of Finance knows about it. What do you think the people will do if they know all these going-ons?

The Chairman asked the member what was the connection of his speech with the clause in the Bill they were discussing.

'Akilisi said he would give another example of the misuse of companies money. He said he wrote to the Police and to Crown Law, and the reply from Crown Law was that there was a misappropriation of government funds, but still nothing was done. He said that people and companies that read the report knew the millions that have been embezzled by this company.

The Minister of Justice said that she thought that this kind of speech was meant for something else, and that they stop making it in the House. She said that action has been taken with regards to the complaint according to the law.

'Akilisi said the increase in penalty is a fine and let's hope it will deter offenders. He said he complained to the Minister of Finance last year about a company that has not paid their due to government for four years, and he said that the matter had been taken to court and for four years now government had not done anything about it.

Unfair

The Prime Minister wanted to make a correction. He said it was unfair to bring the affairs of a private company from outside to be discussed in the House. The issue of Development Licences, government has dealt with that issue. He said that his government vowed last year that they will deal with any wrong doings within government, but he said it was not proper to single out one company and discuss its affairs in the House. If the member wanted to play fair that he raised the affairs of company B and not just A.

With regards to the penalty he said that $100,000 for the smuggling in of goods was adequate.

He emphasised that there responsibility to make in order to maintain peace and harmony in the country.

He said that government would introduce into the House this year an amendment to the Criminal Act, making it possible for a private citizen to sue someone for a criminal offence.

'Akilisi said that his point was for the law to be the same to every one. He said he saw customs officers unloading a Container outside a Chinese Shop, and he thought it was not right.

The Prime Minister said that once the customs department was satisfied with the document presented, the container may leave the wharf and it did not matter where it was unloaded.

Punishment for illegal practice

'Akilisi asked if business licenses of companies can be revoked for illegal practices.

The Prime Minister said that if that was what they wanted, then they should introduce it into the House.

'Akilisi said that if that was the way to make the people honest then it should be introduced.

Chairman told the Member to sit down, because he was disoriented and was going around in a circle. He said that when the Minister of Justice introduced the idea earlier on he said it would not work, but know he thought it would be a good idea.

'Akilisi said he was talking about a different thing, but he supported the idea of terminating licences as a penalty because that will stop corruption.

The Prime Minister supported the move and moved for the House to pass the Bill for a Customs Act, but leave the licensing act for the Crown to work on.

'Uliti reminded the Chairman about his motion to reduce the penalty.

The Chairman called for votes on 'Uliti's motion reduce the penalty from $100,000 to $10,000 and the prison sentence from 10 years to three years. It was rejected 5-15. For it were 'Akilisi Pohiva, 'Isileli Pulu, Clive Edwards, Vili Helu, and 'Uliti Uata.

The Chairman also called for votes on the Bill for an Act to Manage Customs Duty and Excise Tax. It was carried 18-3. Against were 'Akilisi Pohiva, 'Isileli Pulu and 'Uliti Uata.

Minute no. 4 to be continued.