Former Prime Minister Hu‘akavameiliku appeared not to have pursued his formal complaint against the Police Minister after being confronted with allegations that his administration had mismanaged public funds during the Pacific Islands Forum’s hosting.
The lawmakers had been arguing about the new budget’s deficit of $29.1 million, with the Minister of Finance saying he decided to make the deficit to help the private sector.
It follows with questions from the former Minister of Infrastructure, Sevenitini Toumo‘ua, for the Minister of Finance, Dr Eke, who is also the Prime Minister, to clarify the legality of the deficit.
Hu‘akavameiliku and the Minister of Police, Piveni Piukala, joined the dialogues, with Piukala supporting the Eke’s stance on the deficit, while Hu‘akavameiliku and Toumo‘ua disagreed.
The debate took a sharp turn when Hu‘akavameiliku cited a $9 million budget allocation—$3 million each for Agriculture, Fisheries, and Tourism—claiming these funds had been reduced to zero to enable lending. It remained unclear whether he was referring to the new budget or the previous one during his tenure.
However, Piukala replied that Eke’s approach with the $29.1 million budget was intended to be loaned out.
He then made the startling allegation that Hu‘akavameiliku’s approach differed because he and his government misused the budget.
The Tongan word Piukala used was “tili,” referring to the practice of freely distributing goods by allowing people to take as much as they can, as quickly as possible, ensuring each person gets the largest possible share.
He said in Tongan: “Ko e approach ko ē na‘a nau faí ‘e Sea ko e tili ia, ko e approach ko ē na’a nau faí na’a nau tili ai nautolu.”
Hu‘akavameiliku promptly notified the Speaker of his intention to file a complaint against Piukala for allegedly defaming fellow MPs.
He confirmed with Piukala whether he was accusing them of misappropriating the funds.
“Is that what you were saying?” he asked Piukala.
Piukala did not reply to Hu’akavameiliku.
He instead claimed the Hu’akavameiliku used the funds he was referring to for the Forum hosting.
Hu’akavemeiliku countered Piukala by saying that the recent Pacific Finance Ministers meeting, which the government hosted, did not have a budget.
The Speaker directed the MPs to return to the agenda, but no update was provided on whether the Police Minister’s allegation was being pursued.
