In the wake of reports over allegations of illegal adoption of Samoan babies to American couples the Mormon church in Samoa has issued a statement denying any links to the Utah based Focus On Children adoption agency.
The church's director of public affairs, Uele Va'aulu, says any suggestions that the church was linked to Focus are completely false.
The director says the church has no affiliation whatsoever with the agency either on the island or the United States.
Meanwhile a former church missionary in Samoa who had been working for Focus, Dan Wakefield, has pleaded not guilty in Salt Lake City to felony charges that he duped birth parents into giving their children to the agency.
