Transcript
AUTAGAVAIA TIPI AUTAGAVAIA: Most probably that court is going to sit, around October this year.
DOMINIC GODFREY: So this is Mauga Precious Chang's lawyer who's put this appeal against the court ruling. Where does this appeal take place?
ATA: That's the Court of Appeal for all matters that were heard in the Supreme Court. So that's the Appeal Court presided by three judges from New Zealand. So that is going to happen in October. Because the District Court ruling dismissed the traffic charges of Mauga, all matters down in the District Court can be appealed up in the Supreme Court so one of the judges of the Supreme Court can decide on any appeal from the District Court. So that appeal case in the Supreme Court is going to be appealed again in the highest Appeal Court of the Supreme Court. It's very complicated.
DG: This is a really complex, convoluted series of events. This stems back to what, August 2016, when Mauga Precious Chang was arrested at the same time as charges were presented against the police commissioner Fuiavailili Egon Keil?
ATA: The criminal charges against Fuiavailili, that came from the report by the Ombudsman... found that there was criminal activities took place during that raid at Fugalei Market where the police commissioner was involved with several other officers.
DG: And this goes back even further. This goes back to 2015.
ATA: You're absolutely right. That report by the Ombudsman...
DG: The ombudsman Iulai Toma?
ATA: Yes. That's when Mauga, as the director at the time, found that there were criminal charges, and that was the beginning of the whole case. Not only against the police commissioner but also Mauga also faced traffic charges as a result of that traffic accident back in May 2015.
DG: So charges were laid against Fuiavailili on the same day as Mauga Precious Chang was arrested. A couple of days later both the head of the police and the prosecution department were suspended.
ATA: Yes. That investigation by the Director of the National Prosecution Office had taken place way before the traffic accident took place in May 2015. It's just that it was coincidence that the charges served and tried against the Police Commissioner happened at the same time where the traffic accident was investigated by the traffic division of the Ministry of Police. The Attorney General who was acting Director of the National Prosecution Office hired an overseas lawyer to prosecute the traffic charges. And that prosecutor from New Zealand appealed the outcome of the District Court decision on the traffic charges where Mauga was found not guilty of all the three charges. And that's when the appeal was heard up in the Supreme Court and Mauga was found guilty of the negligent driving causing injuries.
DG: And in the meantime she has resigned from her role in the National Prosecution Office...
ATA: When the whole thing happened, the government put an amendment through parliament for the National Prosecution Office to close down.
DG: And that role returned to the Attorney General?
ATA: Yeah, and move back every criminal prosecution back to square one in the Attorney General's office.
