19 Sep 2016

Tonga's Chief Justice re-instates Sevele

7:40 pm on 19 September 2016
Lord Sevele, formerly Fred, (Feleti) Sevele.  Former PM of Tonga.

Lord Sevele. Photo: wikicommons

Tonga's Chief Justice Owen Paulsen has declared the attempt to sack Lord Sevele as chief executive of Tonga's Pacific Games Organising Committee, is void and is of no effect.

In June the Tonga government announced it had sacked Lord Sevele, a former prime minister, in an attempt to improve management and cut costs.

But the Pacific Games Council said this was an infringement of the hosting contract and that Lord Sevele remained in the post.

Lord Sevele then took the matter to court, but after a pre-trial conference in the judge's chambers, both parties have accepted an earlier judgement from Justice Paulsen that the attempted sacking could not stand.

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