Key wants assurances on Tongan passports
‘‘They’re actually real passports but they’re not issued in accordance with the law.’’ Prime Minister John Key
Prime Minister John Key has sought assurances from his Tongan counterpart that diplomatic passports are no longer being sold in the country.
Revelations about the passports being sold to Chinese buyers have rocked the tiny Pacific nation.
Diplomatic passports give holders special high-security access in many airports around the world.
Tonga has a long history of selling citizenship and passports.
In the 1990s it gave them away to runaway despots such as Ferdinand Marcos, of the Philippines, Hong Kong criminals and Palestinian nationals.
But in 2014 Tongan news website NZ Kaniva Pacific reported King Tupou VI ordered then Prime Minister Siale’ataongo Tu’ivakano not to issue passports to Chinese friends of the Queen mother Halaevalu Ahome’e.
However, the Queen Mother reportedly ordered the passports be issued and Tu’ivakano told the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to issue them.
Tu’ivakano and his government lost power soon after, replaced by current Prime Minister Samuela ’Akilisi Pohiva.
King Tupou then agreed to establish a royal commission to investigate the passport scandal.
Pohiva is in New Zealand this week, where he was formally welcomed at Government House in Auckland by Key.
Speaking after meeting with Pohiva, Key said the passport issue was discussed and the New Zealand Government was ‘‘obviously aware of it’’.
While it appeared to be a historical issue he could not rule out it was not happening now.
‘‘Of course we would be concerned because at the heart of this issue is not a fake passport, they’re actually real passports but they’re not issued in accordance with the law. Passports are probably the most sacrosanct legal document aren’t they; in the end they’re the reason why a country accepts another individual crossing their borders because they have confidence in the country’s document so if you lose confidence in that document . . . it stands without reason we would be concerned.’’
The most infamous case involving passport funds was when the current king’s father, King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV, appointed a court jester, Jesse Bogdonoff, of California, in 2001.
Bogdonoff was also told to manage a Tongan trust fund worth US$26 million, accumulated through issuing passports to foreigners.
The money disappeared and has never been recovered while Bogdonoff, who denies stealing it, now calls himself Jesse Dean and offers classes in hypnosis.