TWO former employees at the Forum Travel office in Nuku'alofa pleaded not guilty to the theft and embezzlement of over $300,000 pa'anga when they appeared at the Supreme Court in Nuku'alofa on Friday, March 4.

Tafolosa Kaitapu Bloomfield is charged with two counts of embezzlement and theft of over $240,000 pa'anga from Forum Travel from the period September 2009 to March 2010.

Her co-accused Fangatua Fakava is similarly charged with embezzlement and theft of a lesser amount of over $80,000 pa'anga from Forum Travel.

Appearing before Justice Robert Shuster for arraignment, both accused pleaded not guilty to all charges and elected to be tried by judge and jury.

Justice Shuster adjourned their case to April in which he would set a date for their trial to begin.

The police charged the two accused in May 2010, after Forum Travel management discovered irregularities.

Tafolosa is a former Miss Heilala 1992.