Tonga citizenship by investment scheme, promoted by investment firm Henly & Partners, would enable foreigners to buy citizenship for US$190,000. Photo: tongaconsul.com
Tonga's Prime Minister-designate Lord Fakafanua says the sale of Tongan passports is "a non-issue" as it is yet to become official.
Lord Fakafanua was responding to questions from RNZ Pacific about concerns raised by Tongans in the country - and across the diaspora - about a citizenship by investment proposal.
He said he had clarified in the Legislative Assembly on Monday, during the election of Tonga's PM, about the existence of a proposal which is yet to go through an official parliament process.
"It's a proposal. It needs to go through the appropriate due process, checks and balances, and ultimately debated in the house and approved by the King," he said.
"There will be plenty of opportunities to debate and hold public consultations on the topic and if it has merit to benefit the nation then why won't we entertain it."
Tonga's PM-designate Lord Fakafanua Photo: RNZ Pacific / Teuila Fuatai
Kaniva Tonga first reported that it had obtained a leaked proposal to sell Tonga citizenship for investment.
The scheme, promoted by investment firm Henly & Partners, would enable foreigners to buy citizenship for US$190,000.
For a family of two to four members, the cost would be US$220,000, the online news outlet reported.
The initiative is projected to earn US$400 million over five years for the Tongan government.
Fakafanua, along with former prime minister Hu'akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni, and Tonga's United Nations permanent representative Va'inga Tone, are among senior officials who met with lobbyists for the scheme between September 2023 and May this year.
'A lot of problems'
Concerns over the scheme have been raised by Mele 'Amanaki, the general-secretary of the Tonga Public Service Association, who said there are plans to present a petition to King Tupou VI and parliament to halt it.
Tongans in the island kingdom and overseas have been in contact showing their concerns about the proposed sale of passports, 'Amanaki said.
She said past sales have issues, including the disappearance of millions of dollars from passport sales.
"The proposal was raised in 2024 during the government of Hu'akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni but that was not accepted in parliament," she said.
"It was also presented to the government of Dr 'Aisake Eke but that was also not accepted.
"We already have a lot of problems with earlier sales of passports in the 1980s."
'Amanaki said the Public Service Association will work on a petition with Tongans - both locally and overseas - that would be presented around 19 January 2026, when parliament sits to swear in the new prime minister and members of parliament.
Passport scheme not new
Tonga, like several Pacific nations including Vanuatu and Nauru, have a history of selling passports to raise revenue. However, it is not without controversy.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Tonga sold passports in a scheme initially promoted as being aimed at residents of Hong Kong who would want alternative citizenship options as the region - which until 1997 was remained a British colony - was handed back to China.
The scheme, instigated under King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV, reportedly raised US$26m. However, less than 10 percent made it back to government coffers.
The King had appointed Jesse Bogdonoff, an American he had grown close with, to manage the revenue it earned. At the time, he had ultimate control of Tonga's government as the country's monarch so could make unilateral decisions - including the appointment of Bogdonoff to manage the scheme.
Initially, Bogdonoff's place among Tonga's aristocratic society was as court jester - a position King Tupou IV appointed him to in 1998. Eventually, Tonga sued Bogdonoff and recovered about $2m.
The scandal led to national outrage and sparked the deadly Nuku'alofa riots in 2006. It also resulted in historic change in Tonga, with King Tupou IV relinquishing ultimate rule of the monarchy, and ushering in the country's constitutional reforms in 2008 that moved it towards the model of democracy it has today.
Questions about accountability
With that fraught history, political adviser Lopeti Senituli said any potential plans around citizenship-for-cash schemes would be always be a major issue for Tongans.
At the heart of the matter, he said, lies questions of accountability around the King and his nobles.
But with Fakafanua as prime minister, it is not clear how well scrutinised big decisions - like selling passports - will be, he said.
"When the decision to sell passports was made, of course, we made a lot of money.
"But where has that money gone? It's gone, disappeared, because there was no public scrutiny of where that was going and how it was being done.
"So, that could very well happen again. I'm not saying it will. I'm saying that's the role of a people's representation in cabinet and parliament is to make sure that such excesses [of the King's power] should not happen again."