From the House by Pesi Fonua

There is corruption in government, Sione Taione, the People's Representative PR No. 8 for Tongatapu, told the Tongan Parliament yesterday, 16 October.

Sione made his blatant accusation of government when the House was debating on the 2012 Annual Report of the Ministry of Land, Environment, Climate Change and Natural Resources.

In the report there was a reference to a Modulus Pacific Company Ltd., a Tongan registered company that had signed a Memorandum of Understanding MOU with the Tongan government in 2008, giving the company the exclusive right to explore for oil and gas within Tonga's 37,000 square kilometers of marine lands.

Most intriguing though, according to the report, Modulus is administered and managed by the Prime Minister's Office.

Sione said that Princess Pilolevu was affiliated with the company and pointed out a disparity in seabed rights favoring the Modulus, a company that did not pay any license fees. According to Sione three mineral exploration companies were confined to one small area in their seabed exploration for minerals in comparison to Modulus, which has the exclusive right to the whole of Tonga.

The Minister of Justice, Hon. Clive Edwards warned the PR for the misusing of the word corruption, "one must be certain that there was corruption, and he must have evidences to support his claim."

Sione responded that if there were a stronger word than corruption he would have used it.

Lord Ma'afu, reminded the member that apart from exclusive right, there is also a performance right. Under a performance right, if Modulus fails to activate their exclusive right within three years they may lose the privilege for an exclusive right.

Sione however pointed out that according to the Annual Report, Modulus had initially been given a four years license but was later extended for another six years.

The acting Prime Minister, Hon. Samiu Vaipulu reminded the House that since the 1980s no companies have been interested in exploring for oil on Tonga's seabed, until Modulus came along.  He said that the company would invest millions in Tonga and if they would be successful, they could attract many more millions of foreign investment to the country.

Hon Clive Edward reminded the House that a registered company has directors and a secretary responsible for it's administration. He called on the member to stop making it out that there are officials in the Prime Minister's Office who are running the Modulus.

Dr Sitiveni Halapua, the PR No 3 for Tongatapu, pointed out that according to the report Modulus was administered and managed by the PM's Office. He said it was a mystery as to why this was not stated in the PM's Annual Reports despite the fact that it was reported in the Annual Report of the Ministry of Land.

He moved for the administration and the management of Modulus to be moved from the PM office to the Ministry of Land. He also moved for the annual report of the Ministry of Land to also be included in reports of mineral explorations that have been carried out, and a detailed report on all the companies that are exploring for mineral, gas and oil on Tonga's seabed.

The annual report of the Ministry of Land, Environment, Climate Change and Natural Resources was passed yesterday, 16 September.

Modulus Pacific Company Ltd, is one of three Tongan registered subsidiary companies of a US-based venture capitalist group, Modulus-Baringer Group that were registered in Tonga in 2008 to carry out oil and gas exploration. The other two subsidiary companies were, Baringer Tonga Central and Baringer Tonga South.

Dr Kairat Sydykov, the managing Director of Modulus-Baringer Group was reported to have said in Tonga in January 2012, that they would start exploratory drilling for oil in Tonga's seabed in 2014. He said that the main areas that Tonga would benefit from were increases budget revenue, development of infrastructure and employment opportunities.