The President of the Lands and Titles Court’s last day in office is Monday. This was confirmed by a Cabinet Minister on Friday to Radio Polynesia.
Fepulea’i Atilla Ropati’s position has been revoked in line with a review of the Lands and Titles Court Acts.
Government officials reported that a meeting was held between Prime Minister, Fiame Naomi Mata’afa; Attorney General and Minister of Justice and Courts Administration, Matamua Vasati Pulufana on Friday.
Its been reported that there are correspondence letters going back and forth between Fepulea’i and the government on the issue and that he’s taking legal actions.
Radio Polynesia reached out to Minister Matamua for comments but she declined to comment on the issue noting that the Prime Minister will issue a press statement on this matter.
Radio Polynesia made efforts to get comments from Fepuela’i on the issue at hand but was unsuccessful.
In June, Parliament approved the report prepared by the Special Inquiry Report into the four different sets of the Lands and Title bills, as uncovered by the Attorney General’s office.
Chairman of the Committee, Deputy Speaker of the House, Auapaau Aloitafua Mulipola pointed out their investigation confirmed the concerns raised by the AG’s office.
“There are 4 different copies that were distributed and sold to the public yet these copies were all wrong due to the changes that were inserted after the Acts were assented to by the Head of State.”
Email correspondence was included in the report “clearly indicated” the amendments that were not passed by Parliament.
Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa at that time pointed out the role of Parliament in creating, passing as well as amending laws, with the issue at hand, the Committee came up with 2 conclusions which are; there is no Act in place to elect the President of the LTC and its Judges which is essential to the operation of the LTC.
The Prime Minister noted the terms of reference for the Committee, to consider the role of Parliament should similar matters arise in the future; to investigate whether the process used led to the different copies of the Acts; look into the legal aspects of how the process was carried out and for the Committee to submit recommendations to assure similar issues does not repeat.
The Committee recommended this matter should be referred to the AG’s office and the Ministry of Police and Prisons for further investigations and appropriate actions.
