Tonga Solicitor General has told Kaniva News that following the Court of Appeal order exonerating Lord Lasike from his conviction for illegal possession of ammunition the Attorney General Office acted and advised on what government should do.
“Legal advice has been given to the king and the Prime Minister. Lasike has now secured his title, his salary as a noble of the realm, his land entitlements but the only issue is his Parliament’s chairmanship,” Solisitor ‘Aminiasi Kefu said in an email.
Kaniva understands that the Prime Minister had an audience with the king on the 6th of December 2012 and was told that that was made in accordance with an advice from the Office of the Attorney General regarding Lord Lasike.
In July 2012 Lord Lasike, the Speaker of the Tonga Legislative Assembly at the time, was fined at High Court for T$500 for illegally possessing two-point 22 bullets.
As a result the king, according to the constitution of Tonga, revoked Lasike’s chairmanship of the House and stripped of all entitlements he owned as a King’s noble returning him to his christian name Havea Hikule’o Tu’uhetoka.
Lasike eventually launched an appeal and in October 2012 he was acquitted by the Court of Appeal.
