The Ministry of Infrastructure says the former convicted Cabinet Ministers ‘Etuate and ‘Akosita Lavulavu have been served with eviction notice to end their tenancy at the government property at Sopu.
In a statement this morning the Ministry said the couple was vacating the property at Halavuna road which had been allotted to them as MPs.
The government needed the property for further development, it said.
The Lavulavu were jailed in 2021 for corruption and fraud connected with a school they ran.
‘Etuate and others founded a private education institute in Tonga in 2003. Etuate was its president and his wife ‘Akosita was its director.
In 2022, the Court of Appeal overturned the original sentence, ruling that the judge in the earlier trial had not been impartial. The Court of Appeal ordered that the duo be re-tried in the Supreme Court.
Before the re-trial ‘Akosita claimed that Justice Langi would be biased because she had been working at the Attorney General’s office when the charges were first laid.
A court decision said the appeal had no merit.
On October 10, 2022 the Court of Appeal quashed their convictions and ordered a retrial.
The Court of Appeal said there was ample evidence to support findings of apparent bias on the part of the Judge, that the trial was unfair and that the verdicts could not stand.
However, the Court was satisfied that there was sufficient evidence to support convictions on a correct application of relevant legal principles.
As Kaniva News reported recently, the latest stage in the legal saga surrounding the Lavulavus was adjourned until last month, April 2.
The Supreme Court was conducting voir dire hearings.
According to Attorney General Linda Simiki Folaumoetu’i, voir dire hearings are a means of investigating whether police and people involved in collecting evidence for a trial had done so legally and lawfully.
The Attorney General said after the voir dire hearing on April 2, the new trial would begin.
