Results for From the Courts

‘Epuefi Laimani (34) appeared at the Fasi Magistrate’s Court on Monday, August 6 charged with possession of the illicit drug methamphetamine valued at around $10,000 pa’anga in street value.

A man in his 20s from Nakolo has been sentenced to six-years imprisonment after being convicted of sodomy and abducting a child under the age of 12, for an offence committed in Tongatapu last year.

A father of six children, Alani Afu (51), who was extradicted from Tonga to Australia in 2016 on murder charges, was yesterday convicted of murder by the New South Wales Supreme Court in relation to the stabbing death of a Sydney woman Rita Caleo in 1990. Rita’s husband Mark Caleo was found guilty of hiring Alani to carry out the murder.

A civil suit filed by the Pacific Games Council and Tonga Sports Association National Olympic Committee against the Tongan Government will be mentioned on August 3, at the Supreme Court.

The two Tongan men arrested in relation to the seizure of 58 kilograms of cocaine worth around $30 million pa’anga in street value in Ha’apai have applied for bail in Nuku’alofa.

The Supreme Court of Tonga has upheld a decision of the National Reserve Bank of Tonga to revoke the banking licence of the Pacific International Commercial Bank Ltd. Lord Chief Justice O. G. Paulsen in the Supreme Court of Tonga, on 5 July 2018 dismissed a claim by the PICB bank whose shareholders include HRH Princess Pilolevu. The bank's reported accumulated losses exceeded TOP$4.5million, causing reserve bank concerns that PICB was conducting unsafe and unsound banking operations.

A Chinese resident Gao Jian is on trial for charges of illegally possessing under-sized Sea Cucumber (Loli) during the closed season in accordance to Fishery regulations.

Civil proceedings alleging unlawful payment of around USD$25.4 million to Tongasat by the Government of Tonga in 2011 for the use of its orbital slots by a Chinese company, are now awaiting judgment. Lord Chief Justice O. G. Paulsen who presided over the the week-long proceedings which, started on June 19, has not yet confirmed a date to deliver his judgment.

A civil proceeding alleging unlawful payment of around USD$25.4 million to Tongasat by the Government of Tonga in 2011 for the use of its orbital slots by a Chinese company, is being heard at the Supreme Court in Nuku'alofa this week. Three successive Tongan Prime Ministers will be called to give evidence.