7 Mar 2019

Case against former Samoan cabinet minister adjourned

11:20 am on 7 March 2019

The criminal case against a former Samoan cabinet minister, his wife and three business associates has again been adjourned in the Supreme Court.

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Photo: 123rf

The Samoa Observer reported only two of the defendants appeared in court on Tuesday.

The lawyer representing one of the accused also failed to appear as he was attending a funeral.

The Chief Justice told the court he could not fix a special fixture date because the lawyer was not present and he needed to ensure any date would fit in with his schedule.

The case stems from an ongoing dispute between shareholders of Local Partners and Associates, a nonu juice export company, and an associate minister.

The five are facing 233 criminal charges to which they entered not guilty pleas in October.

The matter will be heard again next Monday.