The Speaker of the Tongan Parliament, Lord Lasike is expected to appear at the Supreme Court in Nuku'alofa today on the charge of unlawful possession of ammunition for .22 rifles.

The Supreme Court office in Nuku'alofa confirmed on October 13, that the Speaker's ammunition case was set down to be called before Justice Robert Shuster for arraignment on October 14.

The count of unlawful possession of ammunition is related to two .22 rifle bullets found by police on June 28, 2010 during a search warrant conducted at a room, said to have been occupied by Lord Lasike, at his motel, Sandy Boyz in Nuku'alofa.

Preliminary inquiry

At a Preliminary Inquiry before Magistrate Mafi on April 19 the defendant was initially charged with three counts including possession of an unlawful arm without a license, importation of an arm without a licence and unlawful possession of ammunition.

The Magistrate on May 25 dismissed the first two counts of possession of an unlawful arm without a licence and importation of an arm without a license, due to insufficient evidence provided by the Crown.

The Magistrate, however, found there was sufficient evidence for the one count of unlawful possession of ammunition against the Speaker and ordered that the case be submitted to the Supreme Court for trial.