Tonga's Solicitor General, 'Aminiasi Kefu, said today that the Crown was dropping drugs charges against Lord Tu'ilakepa because of the complexity of the case, and also because key evidence gathered from telephone interceptions was done outside of the Tongan law.

"Tonga has its own laws. The interceptions were not approved by the Tongan judiciary, not conducted by the Tonga police, and we would have to bring in Australian law enforcement. There are certain tests and procedures in order to assess whether that evidence from Australia is reliable and can be admitted here in Tonga, and it's still a case that we are not too sure of and confident to prosecute on. That's one part of it," he said.

He said that limited manpower of the prosecution resources and time were also factors.

"So we decided to avoid complicating the prosecution of the former Speaker and just concentrate on the arms charges," he said.

Tonga's Solicitor General, 'Aminiasi Kefu. Nuku'alofa, 31 January 2013.

Transnational investigation

The charges arose after a transnational police investigation into illicit drugs was conducted in Tonga and Australia in December 2010.

Lord Tu'ilakepa, a former Speaker and current member of the Tongan legislature, was initially charged with six counts that included two for possession of illegal arms, two for possession of illegal ammunition and one each for possession of an illicit drug, along with conspiracy to the importation of an illicit drug.

Australian police allege Tu'ilakepa conspired with a notorious South American drug lord Obeil Antonio Zuluaga Gomez to bring hundreds of kilos of cocaine from South America into Tonga by sea. The drugs would have then been shipped on to lucrative markets in Australia and China.

Evidence gathered by Tongan police included a letter on a parliamentary letterhead allegedly written by Lord Tu'ilakepa vouching for Gomez.

No drugs found

But the Tonga's Solicitor General said today that in Tu'ilakepa's case no drugs were found.

"The allegations were based on telephone interceptions conducted by law enforcement in Australia from telephone calls from Tonga. The main culprits who were responsible for this organisation have been convicted and sentenced in Australia.

"The evidence was gathered under Australian law by Australian law enforcement without the limitations that we normally have here in Tonga, and it creates the legal complexity," he said.

"But the crux or heart of the case you who have to understand the conversations that were made over the telephone. Without the telephone conversation the letter is nothing, because that's the link to the culprits in Australia."

'Aminiasi said it also comes down to public interest and whether it is worthwhile pursuing something that requires two months of listening to tapes, "that a jury will find very difficult to understand…overbearing to sit through…and they may acquit him on that, and all that effort will result in nothing. We are more confident on pursuing the arms charges, which is more, in our view, an open and shut case."

Arms charges

The Crown is still pursuing the arms charges against Lord Tu'ilakepa.

"We are still prosecuting him, at the end of the day he will face imprisonment sentence here. So we don't protect them, we only protect the weak and the victims of crime."

Tonga law at the moment provides a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment for the arms charges.

"But you are also presuming there are other consequences of being a noble and being an elector, there are other punishments that can become consequential to a conviction of the arms charges.

"Although there were some attempts to amend the legislation of arms to make it a lighter sentence in order to avoid the consequences, but that does not apply to Lord Tu'ilakepa, because it happened under the old law or current law, which still has not been amended.

"We feel that we are doing the right thing here, in the interests of legal system of Tonga, and we are comfortable with the evidence that we have here in Tonga," said 'Aminiasi.