The Chief Justice has approved the government’s appeal of Justice Langi’s decision to deny the use of evidence from the auditor’s report in the case of the Lavulavu couple.
James Lutui, the Director of Public Prosecutor (DPP), told Kaniva News that the appeal is expected to be held on May 5.
As Kaniva News reported previously, Justice Langi ruled that the report compiled by the Auditor General’s department on a school at the centre of the Lavulavu’s trial cannot be used as evidence in court.
The couple was jailed for six years in 2022 after being charged with fraudulently claiming $US250,000 in government funding given to their private school, ‘Unuaki ‘O Tonga Royal Institute, to cover student transition. However, the Tonga Court of Appeal judges overturned the verdict, finding that the judge who sentenced the couple had not acquitted himself impartially.
The Court of Appeal ordered the case back to the Supreme Court for retrial.
The Crown intended to rely on a report from the Auditor General dated October 5, 2016.
The Defendants objected to the admissibility of the Auditor General’s Report, in a court case known as voir dire.
Mrs Langi reportedly said in one of the retrial hearings, the standard of the material in the report amounted to hearsay.
However, the DPP submitted that the whole report was not based on hearsay.
The voir dire hearing was conducted at various times from 7 November 2023 to 30 April 2024, to determine whether the auditor’s report would be admissible in court, the DPP said.
On 6 September 2024, Chief Justice Bishop KC agreed to submit the Crown’s appeal against Mrs Langi’s decision to the Court of Appeal.
Meanwhile, the Lavulavu couple also submitted a cross-appeal on 21 November 2024, which Justice Bishop KC had also approved.
