THE pending court case against Lord Tu'ilakepa who faces six illicit drugs and illegal firearms and ammunitions offences is adjourned to September 19, to fix a date for a Preliminary Inquiry to begin at the Magistrate’s Court in Nuku'alofa.

A Vava'u Noble Representative to the Tonga Legislative Assembly, Tu'ilakepa appeared at the Magistrate’s Court at Fasi on June 7 for conspiracy to the importation of an illicit drug into Tonga, a sixth count he was recently charged with.

The noble appeared before Magistrate Salesi Mafi and was represented by counsel Mana Kaufusi.

He is charged with two counts for possession of illegal firearms, two counts for possession of illegal ammunition and one count for possession of an illicit drug, along with the sixth charge of conspiracy to the importation of an illicit drug.

Member of parliament

The Tongan Parliament had its first sitting for the 2011 session on Tuesday, June 7.

Assistant Senior Crown Counsel Sione Sisifa who is the Crown Prosecutor in this case, said there are no special privileges for parliamentarians who have pending court cases exempting them from trial while parliament is sitting.

"There are no special privileges, everyone is deemed to be the same under the law", he said.

He said that Tu'ilakepa's case was adjourned to September due to a Court Order by a Magistrate having heard counsel in chambers.

He said the Crown proposed to have the hearing on the firearms charges soon, excluding the drugs charges because they were not ready to proceed with at the time. But a Preliminary Inquiry was ordered to be heard in September in the hope that by then the drugs charges will be ready, he said.

The Crown was now satisfied with the scheduled hearing and by September would be ready to proceed to Preliminary Inquiry.

At the same time, another noble who is the current Speaker of the House, Lord Lasike, has a pending case to be heard at the Supreme Court for one count of unlawful possession of ammunition.