Tonga's Minister of Tourism, Hon. Fineasi Funaki was last night ordered by the Prime Minister, Dr Feleti Sevele to work without pay for three months as a penalty for his illegal depositing into his personal account of a $3,000 pa'anga cheque that was donated by the Chinese Embassy to the Ministry.

The decision followed a public uproar after a letter of complaint on the matter from the CEO of the Ministry of Tourism, Edgar Cocker to the Prime Minister was leaked to the press earlier this year.

When the letter became a public topic of discussion, the Cabinet passed a decision for the Auditor General to investigate the allegation.

The Auditor General's report went to the Prime Minister last week, with a recommendation that the Minister should resign.

The Minister of Information Hon. Afu'alo Matoto said this afternoon that, "the Prime Minister made the final decision, but he consulted the king and the Cabinet before he made the announcement on TV and Radio Tonga yesterday evening."

The Prime Minister stated that he made his decision based on a number of factors that were highlighted in the report:

1. That the minister did not secretly deposit the donation in his account. Instead he discussed it with his staff;

2. The purpose for depositing the donation in his account was for the ease of withdrawing it whenever they needed petty cash, because to give it to the Treasury, he said would take them a very long time to get petty cash money;

3. There was no intention to cheat;

4. That the practice was illegal.

Bondage

The Prime Minister said that after weighing up all those factors he decided that a fair punishment would be for the Minister to work without pay for three months.

The Minister of Information, Hon. Afu'alo Matoto explained this afternoon that the Minister's monthly salary was about $4,000, so his total salary loss will be $12,000. Ministers are paid with two sets of salaries, one for their ministerial post and the other from parliament as members of parliament. The Minister of Tourism will lose both.

Afu said that Cabinet Ministers are paid only their basic salaries from the House, and they are paid fortnightly, "unlike elected members who are paid in a lump sum following the opening of parliament."

CEO

With regards to other complaints about the CEO, one of his deputies and five others in the Ministry, the Prime Minister said that their cases would be dealt with by the Public Service Commission.