A question of Public Trust

Public Trust

By Chris Peieru

Even by the Samoan gov ernment’s own standards of accountability, this year has seen an embar rassing chorus of investigations, sack

ings, and suspensions of political

appointments.

Samoans woke on a fine Sunday morn ing to read that another top official was

under investigation.

That person was 36-year-old public trustee and practising lawyer Toleafoa Solomona Toailoa. Appointed in 1993, Toailoa says he borrowed SUS 16,000 from trust funds because several Human Rights Protection Party government MPs owed him for legal work. He says the money was needed urgently for a private project.

Known as being charming, confident and confrontational, Toailoa’s problem was that under the Public Trust Office Act what he did gets the big thumbs down.

A leaked letter written by him was pub lished in the island’s national newspaper, the Samoa Observer. It provided some of the background leading to his suspension but also offered insight into how the HRPP government, now in its fourth term of office, may operate behind closed doors.

In September, Justice Minister Mafasolia Vaai, who oversees the Public Trust, told local media Toailoa was being suspended following an earlier cabinet decision. Office accountant Mulitalo Penaia has also been sidelined by the Public Service Commission on similar grounds.

“I can only confirm that they are sus pended and we are looking into the accounts of the Public Trust Office,” Vaai told local media.

However, the Public Trustees letter, dated August 12, shows he was aware of looming suspension long before it became public knowledge, and had pre-empted the move by handing in his resignation to the government.

Toailoa describes his suspension by the justice minister as being treated like “the son of an animal”.

The gripe over the money escalated when he wrote to Deputy Prime Minister Tuilaepa Malielegaoi asking for the money government MPs owed him for legal work he carried out after last year’s elections.

Back then, more than 10 MPs faced counts in the supreme court that included bribery arid treating. The amount owing was SUS 16,658. However, many law firms avoid dealing with MPs as they have a

“But when I went to the minister... he gave me only SUSI 646 with the explana tion that the rest of the money would be paid up some other day.

“The debt balance was $U515,012. This was the reason 1 borrowed this money as it was not available from the HRPP. But the mention was to pay it back when the money from HRPP arrived.”

Legal sources say under the Public Trust Office Act, Toailoa could be liable by not following proper procedures that include not being able to make loans to himself, his family or his close friends.

Accountant Penaia, whom the Public Trustee had okayed a SUS4IIS loan had knowingly allowed a number of those arrangements to be carried out.

Deputy Finance Secretary Henari Petana has stepped in as temporary boss while the audit office looks into trust finances.

The suspension of the two officials has left former Public Trustee Anae Tony Pereira unsurprised by the probe into the office he headed from 1982-91.

“Somewhere, the office lost the essence of proper financial control.”

When he first took charge, he described the Public Trust Office as being in a state of chaos. Pereira discovered that account ing proof sheets essential to recording finances accurately were being used as wrapping paper by staff.

“People would come in asking for their office file, and our staff would say there was no file, the clients were not manufac turing it and we were using the official reg

ister.”

A complete overhaul of office systems came with more than a thousand estate files that were unlisted on the official register.

“No matter how good a system is, if the will to make it function is not there, well, this is what can happen,” says Pereira.

“That’s where the audit office comes in, where there is a failure to comply with sys tems and procedures and there is a need for the function so these things are flagged down quickly.”

While in office Pereira saw office reserves rise from $200,000 to over $1 mil lion, an amount he now believes is likely to have all but disappeared through mis management.

Despite removing Chief Auditor Su’a Simoni Ah Chang this year, his 1994 report, effectively the last complete audit of government departments, has an almost prophetic ring to it.

On page 82, the Public Trust Office is described as poorly managed, “while engaging in lending systems it cannot man age or control”.

Clearly, Toailoa’s actions were no precedent. During one 12-month period, the report claims the public trustee he replaced advanced $368,871 of trust funds to office staff. He also deposited $50,000 dollars unlawfully into his personal account under the pretext of an advance, the report said.

Accountant Penaia, currently suspend ed, was granted an estimated $34,000 in unlawful allowances.

While handing out the cash might have made staff happy, the report said there was about $3.7 million in mortgage accounts uncollected. Eighty per cent of those were in arrears.

This latest debacle follows a procession of incidents this year involving top offi cials. In August, the chief auditor was dis missed under controversial circumstances.

Prior to that, chief immigration officer Tuipoloa Suisala and two others were sus pended and charged in relation to a pass port scandal, which had Prime Minister Tofilau Eti Alesana (who holds the immi gration portfolio) in tears on national tele vision begging forgiveness if the govern ment had done anything wrong.

This latest chapter leaves the impres sion of a tiny island state being run by a bunch of people determined to suspend reality. The reality now is they could suc ceed. ■

Alesana ... begged forgiveness on national TV notorious record of nonpayment.