VAGST’S FACTUAL HISTORY RECORDED IN HANSARD, CLARIFIES PM TUILAEPA
By: Nanai Taofiga Lavetiga Tuiletufuga
The VAGST tax is the product of the Off-Shore Banking (principal) Act initiated by then Prime Minister, the late Vaai Kolone and his Deputy PM Tupua Tamasese Efi and approved into law by Parliament.
“It’s all in the Hansard, (Legislature’s Official Records),” clarifies Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi.
Also in the Hansard added the Prime Minister is a speech by then Minister of Finance, Faaso’otauloa Sam Saili which acknowledges the beginning of the VAGST with a tax on hotels with the intention to extend it across the board that will also include a VAGST on services. “It can’t be memory loss
Tui Atua had claimed that the VAGST tax which was severely opposed by the Pule and Tumua public movement was authored by then Prime Minister Tofilau Eti Alesana and then Finance Minister Tuilaepa. That act, insisted Tui Atua was approved by Parliament in 1993 under the Tofilau Eti Administration.
Not so, refuted Prime Minister Tuilaepa noting that when appointed by PM Tofilau as Finance Minister, he took over VASGT from where Tupua’s administration left it and it included amendments to the Principal Off Shore Banking Act passed by Parliament during Tupua’s tenure.
Tuilaepa says that it was also predictable when Tupua orchestrated the Pule and Tumua Movement to stir public unrest which if it was not handled diplomatically it would have led to blood shed which he blames Tupua as the instigator.
Incidentally, the Prime Minister noted that now that the Off-Shore Center has evolved into the Samoa International Finance Authority, (SIFA) which is a legitimate government entity, Tuilaepa that the same Tupua has returned with defamatory allegations of money laundry against SIFA.
“I am convinced that Tui Atua has a selective memory,” added the Prime Minister. “He appears to remember things which he wants to remember only.”
In conclusion, Tui Atua’s continued denial of his short comings, says Tuilaepa is a sign of a person who should not be trusted.
