The Supreme Court of Nuku’alofa has dismissed four passport-related charges against a woman, while she still faces four outstanding forgery charges.
‘Isapela Saiatua Tu‘akoi faced four counts of making false declarations to obtain a passport and four counts of forgery.
The defense argued that the passport charges were invalid because the relevant regulations were not in force at the time of the alleged offenses in 2012.
The Lord Chief Justice Mr Bishop, presiding, said: “On the 10 October 2012, an application form for a passport for Shiwei Hu was signed. This is Count 1 of the indictment, Counts 2 to 4 allege similar declarations in identical forms for other applicants”.
He also said the Passport Amendment Act 2003 came into force in 2014 and could not be applied retroactively.
The prosecution eventually conceded, and the passport charges had been struck out.
However, the forgery charges had been upheld.
Mr Bishop found that Tu‘akoi allegedly signed passport application form in the names of others with the intent to deceive the Immigration Division.
The court was told that “about the 10th of October 2012 the Defendant made a false statement with the intention to deceive the immigration division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when you signed a Tongan passport application form, in the name of several applicants and you made this document with the intention that it be acted upon by the Immigration Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as genuine.”
The court document said these were valid under the Criminal Offences Act, which was in force at the time.
As Kaniva News reported previously, Tu’akoi allegedly acted as an agent for Sien Lee and Ying Huang Lee regarding passport applications on November 18, 2013.
The forgery case will proceed, but no hearing date has been scheduled.
