Assoc. Minister on bail to await Court decision

The Associate Minister of Trade, Muagututagata Peter Ah Him, has been remanded on bail to await a Supreme Court decision on allegations against him.

Muagututata has pleaded not guilty to charges of theft, false pretense, forgery and uttering a forged document.

He is being sued by a Chinese company called Grand Ocean Limited, in which he holds 10 percent as a shareholder.

Lawyer, Fepulea’i Patrick Fepulea’i, is representing the Member of Parliament.

Leone Su’a-Mailo and Lucy Sio, of the Attorney General’s Office, are the prosecutors.

The lawyers yesterday handed the Court their written submissions.

Justice Vui Clarence Nelson said he had not had time to go through the documents.

Describing the submissions as “detailed,” Justice Vui asked if there were any changes that the lawyers wanted to make.

Fepulea’i took the floor and disputed part of the submission from the prosecution. The particular part he disputed, he argued, was irrelevant because it has nothing to do with the charges against his client.

Justice Vui intervened.

“Are you saying that the $30,000 paid after is not evidence,” he asked.

Fepulea’i said the settlement agreement between Grand Ocean and Muagututagata was much more expansive.

“The way I see it (in submission) the repayment (from Muagutu to Grand Ocean) is admission of guilt,” said Fepulea’i. “We settled the payment for a different reason.”

Justice Vui said he will look at it.

Continuing, Fepulea’i said that in this case, it is a matter of whom the Court will believe.

Recalling one of the witnesses’ names, Lee, Fepulea’i said she was not a stranger to the defendant and his wife, they were friends.

Fepulea’i added that the submission from prosecutor made it clear the $60,000 was intended to make reimbursement and to pay for services.

Justice Vui adjourned the matter for decision on the 30th January, 2015.

A sum of $32,000 of “special costs” with receipt totaling to $62,454 is the subject of the allegations against the M.P. Grand Ocean has accused Muagutu of forging the invoice which had been presented to him as a genuine document.

They also claim that he defrauded the company by making "invalid costs."

In his evidence, Muagutu told the Court that he had only asked the owner of Savea Savelio’s Customs company to add charges from A.B.M in his receipt. “He could’ve rejected it,” said Muagutu.

Muagutu maintained that he did nothing wrong and the special services charge was for the services done by his company.

Earlier on, Muagutu’s wife, Sala Ana Ah Him, had taken the blame for the wrong receipts.

She told the Court that she was “practicing” on an old receipt belonging to Savea Savelio’s company.

“I used the invoice no.5517 to work out our costs and practiced how to do our costs on the old invoice no.4850,” Sala told the Court.

“I’m not familiar with the language used by Customs and it is why I practiced on the old invoice trying to work out our costs. I copied everything from no.5517 to no. 4850 to give me an idea of how to do the invoice."