Tonga’s Ministry of Justice has confirmed Tuesday that ‘Etuate Lavulavu has filed an appeal of his conviction of bribery and spending over the legal limit on his 2014 election campaign.
Because the appeal has yet to come before the court, a spokesperson from the Ministry said the appeal notice could not be released to us.
In January the Nuku’alofa Supreme Court declared Lavulavu had spent more than TP$10,000 (NZ$6574) on his election campaign in breach of section 24(1).
According to Section 24 (5) of Tonga’s electoral law, it is an offence for any candidate to spend more than TP$10,000 on an election campaign or to fail to deliver the statement referred to in subsection (4) or to deliver a false statement, and any person found guilty shall be liable to a fine not exceeding TP$10,000.
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