The Supreme Court has convicted a man of trying to falsely obtain a passport.

Mr Justice Cato found Taufa Fevaleaki guilty of making a false statement when he applied for a passport in June 2014.

He applied for the passport under the name Sosaia Taufa  Finau and did not disclose, as was required, any other names  by which he was known.

In interview he said the  name he had most used and been known as was Taufa Fevaleaki.

He said he had always had two names.

Evidence was given by an officer from the Ministry of Justice that there were in existence two authentic birth records  for  Sosaia Taufa Finau and for Taufa Fevaleaki.

The accused obtained an earlier passport R01574 in the name of Taufa Fevaleaki in 2002 and  had travelled quite extensively  on this between  2005  and 2011.

On March  18, 2012, however,  a no fly  order had been placed against him because of a court hearing relating to maintenance  payments.    This  passport  was  not  been   cancelled and expired in February 2015.

However, the stop order meant that he could not use this to depart from Tonga. This led him to apply for a second passport in the name of Sosaia Taufa Finau which he made application for on June 12, 2014, signing it as S T Finau.

Although all the details were filled out as personal details in the first part of the form that related to  personal identity, a box that related “to other names you  are known  by” was not completed.

“He admitted to the police officer who interviewed him that he would not have obtained the  passport had he told Immigration Tonga that he had a passport  in  the name of Taufa Fevaleaki,” the judge said.

“I infer from this that he deliberately did not insert the name Taufa Fevaleaki in the passport application because he well knew the likelihood they  would search to  see whether  there  was  a  passport  issued  under  this  name.

“His motivation  was  plainly  to  obtain  a  passport  under   his   second name and it  is  also  plain  beyond  any  reasonable  doubt that he signed this application knowing full well that it was incomplete and accordingly false.

“I find all essential elements established on this charge beyond reasonable doubt and he  is convicted  to  await sentence.”