Former Tonga PM implicated for Chinese 100 million fraud

The Tongan Supreme Court judgment on Lord Tu'ivakano, the former prime minister, contains some extraordinary paragraphs. Readers learn of a $100 million fraud involving people hiding in Tonga.

"Mr Kefu also said that there was no attempt to contact Sien Lee in China as it was assumed that he would not co-operate and any attempts to pursue him would prove ‘fruitless’. Mr Kefu described Sien Lee as a ‘shadowy character’ who was ‘hard to find’ and whose relationship and connections with ‘senior members’ of Tongan society was ‘unclear’. He said that the authorities here were waiting for Sien Lee to return to Tonga.

"Superintendent Tohifolau confirmed that Sien Lee and his wife were targets of the police investigation. She described them as possessing multiple diplomatic and other passports and being closely linked to Chinese nationals arrested here and to foreign entities in Hong Kong who were ‘luring’ people to buy Tongan passports. She also described how lack of resources and other challenges hampered the ability of police to investigate overseas. They sought the co-operation of other police agencies in the region. They also contacted China police directly when they came to Tonga in pursuit of two Chinese nationals wanted in relation to a $100 million fraud case who had fled to Tonga. Police told their Chinese counterparts about the persons of interest in the passports investigation. Initially, the Chinese police said they would communicate with Tonga police when they returned, but nothing came of that."

Source: Pacific Newsroom

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