A meeting scheduled to investigate claims of missing funds in the Electricity Commission has been cancelled after a senior investigator walked out of the meeting venue.
Commissioner Paula Tupou, who has been investigating the allegations, said he left the meeting venue after he arrived to find out a meeting attended by Lord Dalgety of Scotland Tonga, who is at the centre of the allegations, was underway.
Commissioner Tupou said he was suspicious of the meeting.
He said he believed the meeting was being held to gather support for a move to avoid surrendering the information he was asking for as part of his investigation.
“I left because I have seen it all before. Dalgety leading the Commissioners by the nose,” he said.
The National Retirement Benefit Funds CEO, Dr. Leimoni Taufu’i, said the meeting that was supposed to investigate the allegations had been postponed and would be held later.
As Kaniva News reported earlier this week, the meeting was planned to also look at the employment contract of Lord Dalgety and discuss what the law said about the number of board members in the commission.
Dr. Leimoni Taufu’i did not go into details about why the meeting was cancelled.
Commissioner Tupou said the meeting he discovered involved two members of the Electricity Commission (EC), Lord Dalgety and Meleseini Folau, EC Chair Rev. ‘Alifeleti ‘Atiola, Dr. Taufu’i and two newly appointed commissioners.
Tupou said he asked them what meeting they were holding and Lord Dalgety told him it was a meeting of the Trustees.
Asked when the Electricity Commission board meeting would be held, Lord Dalgety told him it would be held after the Trustee’s Meeting.
“When I got there for the Commissioners’ meeting at 4pm, Rev. Atiola was in the middle of a meeting with Dalgety, Mele Folau, Leimoni Taufu’i and our two new Commissioners.
“What was Chairman Atiola doing there? He is not a Trustee,” Tupou said in an e-mail to Kaniva News.
“What were our two new Commissioners doing there? They would not know the first thing about the Electricity Pension Fund. It was their first meeting.
“What was Leimoni Taufu’i doing there?
Kaniva News has contacted Lord Dalgety to confirm Mr. Tupou’s claim.
Commissioner Tupou has questioned why Lord Dalgety’s contract was signed by Commissioner Folau as employer.
He also questioned a clause in the contract allowing Lord Dalgety to stay on his post until he dies with some exceptions.
He told Kaniva News other people in similar positions with the Commission did not have employment contracts.
The main points
- A meeting scheduled to investigate claims of missing funds in the Electricity Commission has been cancelled after a senior investigator walked out of the meeting venue.
- Commissioner Paula Tupou, said he left after he arrived to find out a meeting headed by Lord Dalgety, who is at the centre of the allegations, was underway.
- He said he believed the meeting was being held to gather support for a move to avoid surrendering the information he was asking for as part of his investigation.
- The National Retirement Benefit Funds CEO, Dr. Leimoni Taufu’I, said the scheduled meeting would be held later.
For more information
Electricity Commission meets to address allegations; funds were audited, NRFB boss says
