9 Oct 2012

Tonga opposition leader won't apologise over misuse of funding claims

5:13 am on 9 October 2012

The leader of the opposition in Tonga, Akilisi Pohiva, says he won't apologise for claims he made that the Ministry of Education misused donor funding, until he gets all the answers.

In parliament last week Tonga's Minister of Education called for Mr Pohiva to apologise for making what she says were unfounded allegations about funding received from New Zealand aid.

Dr Ana Maui Taufe'ulungaki's Resolution Motion, stated that Mr Pohiva told New Zealand's Minister for Foreign Affairs, that she had misplaced 700,000 dollars of New Zealand aid funds to her Ministry.

The New Zealand and Australian High Commissions carried out their own investigations and found there was no misappropriation but Mr Pohiva says they didn't have all the information.

"Their response was based entirely on the limited information provided by the Minister of Education and my point is that they were not provided with full documents and information about how the Ministry of Education implemented the projects."

Akilisi Pohiva says they have found irregularities in the way the Ministry of Education uses aid money.