A civil-jury trial hearing claims brought by Tonga's former Attorney General John Cauchi against the Government of Tonga is nearing an end as the evidence of witnesses called by the defendant was completed on 25 November, at the Nuku'alofa Supreme Court.

Cauchi, the plaintiff and Tonga's first independent Attorney General, has filed Causes of Action against the government claiming over AUD$500,000 in special damages and relief for Breach of Contract, Repudiation of Contract and Constructive Dismissal in the civil trial which began on 19 November.

The Solicitor General ‘Aminiasi Kefu completed his evidence this afternoon as the third and final witness for the defendant - the Government of Tonga, after the former Prime Minister Lord Sevele completed his evidence in the morning.

He told the court during questioning from the current Attorney General Neil Adsett who acts for the government, that after Cauchi left, the Crown Law Office was handicapped.

The Solicitor General said this was because there were some decisions in their protocol, practices and constitutional set up that the Attorney General had to make decisions on. “After Cauchi resigned we operated for about a month without an Attorney General and some of the matters were held up even in court because there was no Attorney General,” he said.

He confirmed that the prosecution of persons arising out of the Ashika tragedy proceeded despite not having the independent prosecutors they had initially engaged and the prosecution was led by himself and senior prosecutors in the Crown Law Office.

AG Adsett asked him whether he had any knowledge on whether the finances or costing for overseas prosecutors was ever approved by the government. He said no, but they had submitted their budget proposal around the first quarter of 2010 to an Expenditure Review Committee of the cabinet, which included that for the overseas prosecutors.

“When we got the final budget after it was passed by parliament it was not included in the funding given to our office,” he said.

“Did you ever see a letter from Treasury approving the large sums of money for the overseas prosecutors,” asked AG Adsett. He said, no, there was never any approval given to them from finance.

Interim

The Solicitor General said that after Cauchi left in May 2010 the Minister for Infrastructure and Deputy Prime Minister Hon. Samiu Vaipulu took over as Interim Attorney General in July 2010 after he wrote to then Prime Minister Lord Sevele asking the appointment of an Attorney General.

“We got the appointment of Vaipulu in July, which he held until August 5, 2011 when Barry Sweetman a senior law practitioner from Fiji was appointed as the chairman of the Electoral Commission and was appointed as the Interim Attorney General,” he said.

Was Cauchi given legal work to do up until the time he resigned, asked AG Adsett.

The Solicitor General said when Cauchi joined them he was given handover notes of the legal work he had inherited from the outgoing Attorney General which included meeting legislative programs of government, directing criminal prosecution work, a number of legal issues government needing legal advise on and there were government committees he was responsible for leading and some he chaired, among others.

"Also, he was the first appointed independent Attorney General outside of cabinet and was responsible to set a new structure of an independent Attorney General’s office."

Resign

AG Adsett asked the witness  if he agreed that Cauchi had no option but to resign?

The witness said no he did not agree as there were still other works and avenues he could have done to resolve the issue.

The Solicitor General believed Cauchi was welcomed at the Crown Law Office since he was not new and was a Senior Crown Counsel in Tonga in the late 1990’s and knew a lot of staff who were still in the office, including himself, who worked under him at that time.

He said the first time he learnt about Cauchi's claim against Government for his salary for the three-years if he stayed in Tonga was in a letter he received in January 2012 from his legal counsel David Garrett. He left a letter claiming unpaid allowances and rentals but not for unpaid salary, said the Solicitor General.

In regards to questioning on payment of official travels, he said government paid for official travels but most were paid from overseas. The policy is that government paid for the ticket/travel two-days prior to travelling to confirm one would travel. There are different processes to get authorisation and it depends on one's level of position in government and agreed that system for official travels was available to the plaintiff.

He said as Attorney General his position was similar to a Minister's rank and approval for his travel came from cabinet. Treasury would pay for that travel based on a cabinet decision, he said.

The Solicitor General was further cross-examined by the plaintiff's counsel Laki Niu before completing his evidence.

The civil trial is expected to continue tomorrow Tuesday, 26 November before the Lord Chief Justice Michael Scott.