The Tongatapu 4 MP Mateni Tapueluelu has called for an audit of the Constituency’s Council Office, claiming that equipment had gone missing and money had been misused.
Hon. Tapueluelu said the Council office’s records showed two tractors and a truck belonging to the constituency appeared to have been sold while former MP Tatafu Moeaki was in office.
Hon. Tapueluelu, who replaced Moeaki after the former Finance Minister was dismissed following his electoral bribery conviction, said he could not locate the money paid for the vehicles.
He said the truck was sold for TP$3000 to a driver for Moeaki.
He said after some time the record showed the TP$3000 was refunded to the office, but the driver appeared to have kept the truck. MP Tapueluelu said he wanted to serve a letter from his lawyer to the driver, but he appeared to be hard to find.
Hon. Tapueluelu said he was baffled by the truck deal.
One tractor was donated to a church.
He said the truck and the tractors were donated by the Chinese Ambassador in Tonga at his request before he was ousted in the 2020 general elections.
Moeaki, who is now CEO of Tonga’s National Reserved Bank, has been contacted for comment.
Hon. Tapueluelu claimed he found some equipment from the Council’s office had been missing including a garden drill bit, a water blaster and a box of tools which were meant to maintain the tractors.
He also claimed the office donated TP$7000 to a private business as part of the constituency’s relief project.
The office also donated TP$500 to each villager in one of the constituency’s villages who had a funeral service. The MP said the constituency funding rules prohibited this kind of donation.
Hon. Tapueluelu said he has asked the Auditor to audit the Council’s office, but was told the Auditor would do it according to its schedule. Late last week, after it appeared that his concerns had been leaked to the media, he was told the Auditor was ready to audit the office.
The Tongatapu 4 representative said he has been struggling to obtain financial reports from the 11 villages and towns of the constituency, especially the villages of Fangaloto and ‘Umusī. He said he wanted to see how they had been using their share of the constituency funding.
Funding
Constituency funding had been a point of heated debate in the Parliament in recent years.
The funding was meant for the 17 People’s MPs to distribute each year among their constituencies to help with what was most needed by their people for the development of their community. Each people’s MP has TP$200,000 to distribute.
In 2019 the Nobility’s nine MPs in Parliament pleaded with the government to be allowed to receive TP$100,000 each from the constituency funding to help people in their estates.
The then Prime Minister, the late ‘Akilisi Pohiva, strongly opposed the request. He said if the Nobles were given the money it could cause problems. He said not every constituency in Tonga had a Noble MP.
However, in 2020 the government of controversial Prime Minister Pohiva Tu’ionetoa supported a majority ballot in the House to allow each of the nine members of the Nobility a share of TP$50,000 in the constituency funding.
