Samoa's old fono with the court building in the background. Photo: RNZ / Johnny Blades
The Samoa speaker of Parliament, Laauli Leuatea Polataivao, is involved in a court dispute over the handling of finances in a nonu juice company of which he is a director.
The associate minister for the Ministry of the Prime Minister, Peseta Vaifou Tevaga, who is also a director of the company, is fighting for a court injunction against Laauli and two other respondents.
The lawyer representing Peseta, Leulua'ialii Olinda Woodrooffe, says the action comes after a dispute over payments of a company loan from the Samoa National Provident Fund, of which Peseta's land is being used as security.
"Peseta who is a 50 percent shareholder in directorship is denied the right to have any access to financial records, denied the right to go inside the premises of the company when he owns the land the company used to guarantee a loan from the bank."
Leulua'ialii Olinda Woodrooffe says if the injunction is successful it would put the company's operations on hold.
