New Zealand's administrator to Tokelau played a key role in the illegal suspension of two public servants, the territory's High Court has ruled.
Photo: ikiryo/123RF
The decision delivered Thursday is a minor victory for the plaintiffs, Jovilisi Suveinakama and Heto Puka, who were also ordered to pay some of the administrator's legal costs in the case. It also is the clearest sign yet of New Zealand's enduring influence on the territory's government.
Mr Suveinakama and Mr Puka sued Tokelau's government and the administrator after they were fired in 2017 for spending $US2.3 million on two helicopters without proper authorisation. Crucially, they have sought to prove New Zealand was heavy-handed in its orchestrating of their ouster.
In July, Tokelau's High Court backed the pair's eventual dismissal, but found the government unlawfully withheld pay from them when they were suspended. It was the court's first-ever substantive decision and followed a landmark sitting in the Wellington High Court in September 2018.
When Mr Suveinakama and Mr Puka first launched their legal dispute in 2017, they listed then-acting administrator Jonathan Kings as a defendant. Mr Suveinakama and Mr Puka took issue with a letter from Mr Kings sent to the then-ulu, or titular leader, Siopili Perez, in 2017 ahead of their suspensions.
The letter, which RNZ Pacific obtained advised Mr Perez that "it would provide New Zealand with greater confidence" in Tokelau if the pair were suspended while they were being investigated.
Jonathan Kings. Photo: RNZ Pacific/ Koroi Hawkins
At the September hearing, Judge Peter Churchman said it looked like the request from Mr Kings was the only reason Mr Suveinakama and Mr Puka had been suspended.
"If indeed that was the reason for suspension, that's a problem because someone who is not the employer influenced a pretty fundamental aspect of the employment relationship," he told the Tokelau High Court.
Last week, Judge Churchman went a step further.
"It is possible to conclude that, at the least, the third defendant (administrator) encouraged and supported, if not instigated, the suspensions which the Court found were unlawful," he said in his judgement.
At the time the letter was sent, Mr Kings was a senior official at New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) and had not yet taken over as acting administrator. He is now the Deputy Secretary of the Pacific and Development Group at MFAT.
The current administrator, Ross Ardern, who assumed the role of defendant when he was appointed in January 2018, has argued there was no evidence New Zealand influenced Tokelau's decision to suspend Mr Suveinakama and Mr Puka.
His lawyers have said the case was an employment matter between the plaintiffs and their former employer, Tokelau's government.
Tokelau Administrator, Ross Ardern, in Apia, Samoa. Photo: RNZ PACIFIC / MACKENZIE SMITH
Mr Ardern was dropped as a defendant in January after Judge Churchman stayed the case against him until Mr Suveinakama and Mr Puka paid security for his legal costs.
However, Mr Ardern still attended both days of the court hearing, flanked by officials from MFAT, and he consulted with Tokelau's faipule, or leaders, who represented the government.
In last week's decision, Judge Churchman ordered Mr Suveinakama and Mr Puka to pay Mr Ardern $US3200 toward his legal costs - though this was far less than the $US21,000 he had sought from the pair.
Judge Churchman said the administrator's role in the suspensions was one factor in awarding a reduced sum for his legal costs.