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Samoa Supreme Court justice will not withdraw airline theft case

“Theft as a public servant is becoming a major problem in Samoa and the law will not back down from such crimes,” said Supreme Court Justice Vui Clarence Nelson during the case of a former Interisland Airlines supervisor.

Kilisitina Tevaga Sio with the Apia, Samoa branch of Interisland Airlines, is charged with theft as a public servant. The defendant appeared before Supreme Court Justice Vui Clarence Nelson earlier this week.

According to the police summary of facts (police affidavit) Sio has been working at the Interisland airlines office in Togafuafua and was the supervisor in the reservation division for four years. It’s alleged that part of her job is to collect money from customers who make reservations however, the former supervisor took WST $1311 from the Interisland cash flow on April 20, 2012 for her personal use.

The police summary of facts states that the General Manager of Interisland notified Sio about the missing money and reported the matter to authorities.

It’s alleged this is when Sio admitted to the police that she took it for personal use. Sio has paid back the money in full to Interisland and this was revealed in court with a letter from the former General Manager, who has already requested the Supreme Court to withdraw the case.

Justice Vui noted in court this week, the letter will assist Sio with her case, however the matter is now under the court’s jurisdiction.

The Justice noted that theft as a public servant is becoming a major problem in Samoa and the law will not back down from such crimes.

Sio’s matter was postponed for sentencing while the High Court is considering facts of the case. The Interisland main office is in the territory.

Samoa News contacted the local office, where a representative who wished not to be named, said that after the incident was uncovered with the Apia office, they made a lot of changes pertaining to a stricter working strategy there.

However, the local office remains the same, given that the operation is running smoothly.