A serious dispute has erupted within the Pacific academic community, with Dr Siosiua Lafitani and his online institution, Lo’au University, facing public allegations of fraud, operating without transparency, and failing to deliver courses paid for by students.
The accusations, levelled by an individual named Marshall Cameron, also known as Toki’ukamea Liutai, have been met with a firm and public denial from Dr Lafitani.
Separately, Auckland-based Tongan lawyer Nalesoni Tupou this week called on Lafitani to refund students for courses that were paid for but not delivered. Tupou also questioned the legitimacy of Lo’au University, asking in which country the institution is officially registered.
In what he described as his “First response,” Dr Lafitani, who also uses the traditional name Vavangakitupu’a, issued a comprehensive denial.
He defended the legitimacy of his academic work, tracing its roots back to 1999 with the Lo’au Research Society at the Australian National University and, since 2011, with Lo’au University at the University of Sydney.
He never directly denied receiving the alleged payments.
He specifically pointed to the institution’s official launch in 2014 at the University of the South Pacific in Tonga, an event he stated was honored by the presence of the then-Minister of Education, Professor Dr. ‘Ana Maui Taufe’ulungaki.
He characterised the allegations as “false allegations and defamation” that falsely label this long-standing work as “fraudulent.”
Serious Allegations
In response, Toki’ukamea Liutai issued a direct challenge, calling on Dr. Lafitani to “surrender your ego” and laying out a set of terms for peace, framed within the context of an “ancient tradition” fight for “Māna and Names.”
He told Lafitani to cease using the term “university” for his research groups.
That he stop offering unqualified certifications termed Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Doctorates.
The response concluded with a warning. Toki’ukamea stated that if Dr. Lafitani fails to meet these terms and provide refunds, they will pursue the matter with consumer and educational regulators in both Australia and Tonga, and continue to publicize the issue, potentially at great detriment to Dr. Lafitani’s reputation.
Lo‘au University no longer appears to be operating its two websites, known previously as Nuama and Lo‘au ‘University. It appears the University is now being operated through Facebook and has some videos on Youtube.
The university was described by the media at the time of its launch as “Tonga’s first online virtual university.”
The concerns about the university were compounded by the fact that it appeared to lack the essential requirements common to most recognised universities in the Pacific, including New Zealand and Australia.
Those universities have official websites on which everything about the institutions, such as lecturers’ qualifications and backgrounds, constitution, policy, contacts, schedules, courses and a repository for their students’ research theses and dissertations, are made available to the public.
