The Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture (M.E.S.C.) Matafeo Falanaipupu Tanielu Aiafi took to the stand Thursday morning to give evidence in the on-going hearing into theft charges against suspended employees of his Ministry.
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Presiding over the matter is Supreme Court Justice, Lesatele Rapi Va’ai.
The defendants are; Silauniu Tagi’ilima and Melaia Reed. They are represented by lawyers; Donald Kerslake and Amelia Fa’asau.
Tagi’ilima faces 10 separate charges in relation to the alleged incident and two joint charges with co-defendant Melaia Reed.
The charges against the defendants stem from the alleged theft of stationery belonging to the Ministry in 2013.
Prosecuting lawyers in the case are; Leone Su’a Mailo and Lucy Sio.
Matafeo testified that he was employed as C.E.O. to the Ministry since 2012.
During the cross examination, he denied questions put to him by Tagi’ilima’s defence counsel Donald Kerslake, regarding knowledge of practises within the Ministry where staff use materials from the stationery in question for staff workshops and conferences.
Matafeo said there is no such practise to his knowledge. The stationery materials in question are mainly for the use of students in schools. The Ministry receives the orders from them at the start of the school year.
The staff is not permitted to use this stationery. The only other use for the stationery and this has to be approved by him, is for preschools and private schools that request assistance in school materials.
He also denied ever issuing a directive to the staff to seize the use of school stationery for their utilization.
The second witness to give evidence was the Director of the Samoa Teachers Credit Union (S.T.C.U.) Lotonuu Nofoaiga.
She was the witness who was implicated as one of the people who received a ring binder box from Tagiilima sometime prior to the theft that has landed the defendants in court.
But when she was questioned about receiving the box of ring binders she denied this. She confirmed visiting Tagi’ilima but she was there for another purpose altogether, she said. Ms. Nofoaiga claims she went to see the defendant to drop off some birth certificates and registration for family members who wanted to start school at Malifa. She went on to add that this was because she couldn’t get a hold of the C.E.O.
And she continued to disagree that a box of ring binders was deposited into the back of her car as an earlier witness for prosecution had testified in court. The matter was adjourned on 11 March for submission.
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