Court rules Deputy PM committed bribery, election void [1]
Friday, May 13, 2022 - 19:45. Updated on Friday, May 13, 2022 - 19:55.
By Linny Folau
The election of Deputy Prime Minister, Hon. Poasi Tei, as Tongatapu No. 6 People’s Representative to the Legislative Assembly has been declared void by the Supreme Court, after he was found to have committed three acts of bribery, in the lead up to the November 2021 General Election.
This election petition was filed by Fane Fituafe, the only other person who constested against Tei [respondent] in the Tongatapu No. 6 electorate. She alleged that he committed four acts of bribery and sought the court’s declaration that his election is void.
Hon. Mr Justice Niu in a 43-page written judgment today, found the respondent guilty of three claims, while dismissing a fourth claim because it was not proven.
These were committed prior to the 16 November General Election.
The respondent denied that he had any involvement in each of the matters alleged in the four claims.
The judge delivered his judgment, after hearing evidence presented over three-days of trial on April 19-21 at the Supreme Court in Nuku'alofa.
The petitioner and seven of her witnesses gave evidence and only the respondent gave evidence in his defence.
Proven
In the first claim, the judge found that the respondent was guilty and that he committed bribery indirectly by having Saia Penitani give one 5000 litre water tank to Tevita Leka, an elector of Houma on 6 November 2021 to induce him to vote for him.
On the second claim, the respondent was again found to have committed bribery indirectly by having Penitani and Naitoko Vuna give a 5000 litre tank each to some 10 electors of Houma on 12 November 2021 to get them to vote for him.
He was also guilty on the third claim of bribery when he indirectly had Saia Penitani give two cartons of frozen chicken, crackers, cocoa, coffee, milk and sugar to the members of the village police post at the end of Houma towards Nuku'alofa, and of similar goods to the members of the post at the end of Houma towards Vaotu'u on 5 November 2021 to induce them to vote for him.
"It has been proved to the satisfaction of this Court at the trial of the election petition filed in respect of that election, that the respondent is guilty of 3 offences against s.21 of the Act, this Court hereby declares that the election of the respondent, Poasi Mataele Tei, is void."
Evidence
The judge said the petitioner's evidence in relation to the first claim regarding the water tanks was given by Loisi Koloamatangi and Tevita Funaki.
Loisi said that the town officer Naitoko Vuna and Saia Penitani were strong supporters of the respondent and his campaign team in Houma.
He said, Loisi said that initially she went and asked the town officer, Naitoko Vuna for a tank, because she had not received one in all three distributions which been carried out in Houma. The town officer told her that she was not eligible for one because she was not a registered elector of Houma.
"There was not and there is not any criterion in the criteria for a free water tank, that the recipient had to be an elector of the village, in which the recipient lives and the people did not know that the town officer had only made that up to deny eligible people of their entitlement to a free water tank."
Transferred to Houma
“Nevertheless, Loisi and her husband and their adult son, all had their registrations as electors in Vava'u transferred and they were all registered as electors of Houma. Then Loisi went directly to the respondent at his home at Hofoa and told him that they had all been registered as electors of Houma.
“The respondent then instructed them to give him their phone number and to go and have their tank stand ready which they did. In consequence of that Loisi and her family were then delivered their water tank on 6 November 2021.”
The judge said, the respondent, did not deny the evidence of Loisi that the town officer and Saia Penitani were strong supporters of his and of his campaign team at Houma, nor her evidence of their contact with him about their registration as electors or his instruction to them to go and have their tank stand ready.
"He did not deny or point out instead to Loisi at the time that the town officer was wrong to have required them to be registered electors of Houma before they could be granted a tank. To me, he showed no surprise that there was such a requirement. And in his evidence, he said nothing about it at all."
“It is therefore, the fact that the respondent impliedly accepted, and endorsed, the requirement which the town Ooficer required, which meant that he required, as head of the Ministry responsible distribution of free water tanks, that no tank be given to any person unless that person was a registered elector. He thereby tied the entitlement to a tank to the general election to be held on 18 November 2021,” he said.
"Although this first claim of the petitioner claims that 20 tanks were given and only one has been proved as to the circumstances of its delivery, the act is still an offence under S.21 irrespective of the number of tanks proved to have been delivered to an elector to induce him to vote for the respondent."
More tanks and food
On the second claim, the judge was also satisfied on the balance of probability that the 10 tanks, which were said to have been delivered that day were delivered by the town officer and by Saia Penitani at the direction and with the approval of the respondent.
He said this was for the purpose of influencing or inducing the recipients, who were registered electors of Houma, as the Town officer had required, to vote for the respondent.
The judge was also satisfied that on the third claim, the respondent had known beforehand that Saia Penitani was going to give the gifts of food to the village police for the reasons stated.
“It is unlikely that Saia Penitani would have had the money to pay for all the 20 or so cartons of frozen chicken, to give to each of the 10 posts of the village police in Houma, and that the respondent has told me that he did not ask Saia where he had got the money to make the purchase of the goods,” said the judge.
"I do not believe that he only found out about it after it was posted on Facebook because he did not take any step to disassociate himself from those gifts in anyway whatsoever. He was content to let the people continue to believe that he had given them, so that they would be influenced to vote for him."
On the fourth claim that the respondent overspent in his election campaign by expending more than $20,000, it was dismissed because it had not been proven.
Tanks were not the property of the respondent
The judge said the ground of this claim was that the respondent donated 20 water tanks in the first claim and 20 water tanks in the second claim, making a total of 40 tanks. Each tank being valued at $10,000 per tank.
"Those tanks were not the property of the respondent. There is no evidence that he expended any money in making them or in buying them or paying for them. What the law requires is that the candidates spending is his own money or his own goods, in excess of $20,000 in his election to be in breach of s.24 of the Act."
He said the tanks were the property of the Government and they remained so until they were delivered to the recipients who satisfied the set criteria.
"That of course does not prevent the respondent from donating any of the tanks to any elector or to influence that elector to induce the elector to vote for him, and thereby he committed the offence of bribery under s.21, as I have found in the first water tanks and second water tanks."
The respondent was represented by Sifa Tu’utafaiva and Sione 'Etika for the petitioner.
Re-election success
In addition to being Deputy Prime Minister, ther respondent holds two Ministerial portfolios as Minister of MEIDECC [Meteorology, Energy, Information, Disaster Management, Environment, Climate Change and Communications] and Minister for Public Enterprises.
He was first elected to Parliament in the 2014 General Election and was appointed as the then Minister for Public Enterprises .
In the 2017 General Election, he was was again re-elected and appointed as Minister of Energy, Environment, Information and Climate Change.
His success extended to the 2021 General Election, when was re-elected before being appointed to his Ministerial portfolios in the current Govermment headed by Hon. Hu'akavameiliku.
Before entering politics, the respondent worked in various government public enterprises including Tonga Water Board and Tonga Airport Ltd.
Parliamentary unseating
Meanwhile, Parliament has deferred the date for the parliamentary unseating of members who have had their elections voided by the court.
See also:
https://matangitonga.to/2022/05/13/PM-says-govt-will-respect-court-decis... [2]