https://matangitonga.to/2024/12/30/man-who-received-stolen-car-australia-jailed

A 40-year-old man in Tonga who received a vehicle stolen from a car rental business in New South Wales, Australia, that was shipped to Tonga, is serving one year in prison, after being found guilty of money laundering and receiving stolen property.

Lord Chief Justice Malcolm Bishop sentenced Siosio Malohi Vea on 5 December at the Supreme Court in Nuku’alofa. He was found guilty on both charges on 20 September, after a trial.

The vehicle was ordered to be returned to the complainant company, Ride Solutions Ltd.

In the summary of facts by the Prosecution, the complainant is the manager of Rides Solution Ltd, a car rental business registered in New South Wales, Australia.

The defendant is married to Kasanita, and they lived in Australia before moving to Tonga in 2022. On 20 February 2022, Kasanita entered a contract with the company to rent a vehicle for a period of twelve (12) months. In consideration, Kasanita paid a bond of AUD$1,100 and a weekly fee of AUD$300 for the duration of the contract. The contract prohibited removing the vehicle from the state of New South Wales, Australia, without prior approval from the complainant and the immediate termination of the contract after two missed payments.  On the same day, the complainant handed over a white car valued at AUD$20,180 to Kasanita.

Later, from 19 September to October 2022, Kasanita defaulted on her rental payments. The company attempted several times to contact her to recover the payments but was unable to get a hold of her.

A few days later on 29 September 2022, the defendant and Kasanita arrived in Tonga from Australia.

 On 5 October 2022, Kasanita via email informed the complainant that her unpaid payments of September would be made together with the payment for October and requested the payments to be made monthly.

The complainant on 28 October 2022 via email informed Kasanita that she had breached the contract and it was terminated. The complainant then circulated her information on Facebook after informing her that the car must be returned within 24 hours.

On 7 November 2022, the complainant via email informed Kasanita that the contract has been terminated and demanded the immediate return of the car.

From 7 to 8 November 2022, in a series of email correspondences, Kasanita informed the complainant that she was struggling with the payments and expressed her extreme dissatisfaction with the complainant’s conduct in posting on social media an ‘allegation’ that she had stolen the car.

On 9 November 2022, the Company Director reported the theft of the car to the New South Wales Police.

However, on 29 November 2022, the car arrived in Tonga on board MV Captain Tupaia vessel. In December, the defendant engaged with a broker to handle the customs clearance of the car.

The Prosecution confirmed that on 19 December, the container containing the car was inspected by Customs Officer and its conclusion, it was confirmed that to be white SUV.

On 23 December, the defendan, Siosio Malohi Vea, egistered the car in Tonga and a Certificate of Registration of Motor Vehicle was issued under his name. Then in January 2023, the complainant received several photographs of the car on Facebook messenger from people in Tonga.

The complainant then informed the company owner that the contract with Kasanita was terminated and the car was shipped to Tonga without authorisation.

On 2 January 2023, Kasanita in an email proposed a new contract with the complainant to allow her to retain possession of the car while she continued to pay a monthly fee, with the ultimate intention of her gaining ownership after the conclusion of the payment term. This was rejected by the complainant.

Then on 24 January 2023, the complainant reported the theft of the vehicle to the Tonga Police. This led a search warrant executed at the defendant’s residence in Ha’ateiho,where the vehicle was found. He did not cooperate with the Police.

During sentencing, the Lord Chief Justice stated that the defendant was found guilty, after the trial of money laundering and receiving stolen property together with his wife where a motor car was rented in monthly payments and then proceeded to transport the car from Australia to Tonga.

“This was premeditated. Your behaviour caused the rental company considerable loss, not only in the loss of revenue with the rental car but also caused them to change their verification process at considerable inconvenience both to them and respective customers. You continued to maintain your innocence although I note the amount of time for you to appeal my judgement finding you guilty has also lapsed,” he stated.

“Money laundering is a serious and growing offence, every user of the financial service system will now have to withstand considerable and sometimes intrusive investigations into a user's personal finances like seeking a loan or a rental car. In Tonga, this is a very rare for this type of offence to occur and it is therefore necessary to mark what you did in such a way as to deter others from such offending.”

The LCJ treated him as a man with no previous convictions.

“I take Count 1 of money laundering as the more serious charge, and I consider it appropriate to pass an immediate custodial sentence of 4 years imprisonment as a starting point. I deduct 2 years from that starting point by way of mitigation for your previous good character leaving a remaining 2 years.”

He then sentenced him to two years in prison with the final year suspended for one year, on conditions. This means he is now serving 12 months in prison.