Two Tongan Lords, including the current Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Tonga and a former Speaker, have pending court cases at the Nuku'alofa Magistrate's Court, after being charged with offences of illegal possession of arms and ammunitions.

Lord Tu'iha'ateiho the current Deputy Speaker and a Ha'apai Noble's Representative to the Legislative Assembly is charged with one count of illegal possession of a firearm.

The Acting Solicitor General Sione Sisifa said a meeting in chambers will be held on Friday 22 March 2013 to fix a date for a Preliminary Inquiry at the Nuku'alofa Magistrate's Court.

In the meantime, the Crown had formally withdrawn two drugs charges against Lord Tu'ilakepa, a current Vava'u Noble's Representative and former Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.

He said Lord Tu'ilakepa remained charged with four counts of possession of illegal arms and possession of illegal ammunitions pending at the lower court. At this stage no date has been set in court because his counsel Mana Kaufusi is said to be ill, he said.

The withdrawn charges were for possession of an illicit drug and conspiracy to the importation of illicit drug that resulted from a transnational investigation into illicit drugs conducted in Tonga and Australia.

In February, the Crown revealed it would drop the 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.