A man is expected to be sentenced next month in Tonga after receiving a stolen rental car from Australia.
His ex-wife in New South Wales reportedly stole the car and then shipped it to Tonga.
Siosio Malohi Vea, 40, pleaded not guilty to two counts of money laundering and receiving stolen property.
However, the Supreme Court in Nuku’alofa found him guilty and will sentence him in November.
The prosecution argued that Vea had concealed the actual ownership of the MG motor car and knew it had been stolen or obtained under such circumstances.
“First, he in the knowledge or suspicion that the car in question was criminal property that is to say it was derived directly or indirectly from the commission of a serious offence, he converted the car to his own use concealing its true origin”, the court judgement said.
The illegal action constitutes a money laundering offence, the court document shows.
The vehicle was rented to the convict’s former wife Kasanita Vea in the state of New South Wales Australia.
“In this case the thief is alleged to be the Defendant’s former wife, Kasanita”, the Lord Chief Justice Malcolm Bishop said, noting that the correspondences submitted to the court show “not only that the vehicle was originally rented by Kasanita ….. she had no intention of complying with the agreement or restoring the vehicle to its lawful owner, Ride Solutions”.
Mr Bishop also said he was satisfied with the evidence that Kasanita appropriated the car, and this was to the defendant’s knowledge.
The vehicle’s removal from that state is prohibited unless prior authorization had been obtained.
No such written authorization was made.
After failing to pay up for the rent on a number of occassaion Kasanita ceased to get in touch with the renting company.
This resulted in a number of increasingly anxious communications taking place, eventually including a publication on social media of the loss of the vehicle.
This resulted in information being communicated to Ride Solutions that the vehicle was in Tonga.
Tonga Police executed a lawful search warrant and as a result the vehicle was located at the defendant’s premises and confiscated pending the outcome of these proceedings.
The vehicle was registered at the Tonga Ministry of Infrastructure, where the owner is asserted to be Siosio Vea.
Mr Bishop also said: “It seems to me that this is a clear case made out on the indictment and I so find. I conclude that the indictment has been proved to the criminal standard and that the Defendant is guilty of both counts 1 and 2”.
