The Tonga Supreme Court has convicted a man who was found with nearly TP$149,000 stuffed into his trousers and strapped to his leg while trying to board an international flight.
Qian Xiyun failed to declare to Customs that he was carrying more than TP$10,000 of currency.
He was scheduled to fly out to Fiji.
Kaniva News reports Qian originally pleaded guilty to the charge and elected trial by judge alone in relation to other charges. Clive Edwards appeared for him at trial, which began on 18 March 2019.
At the start of the trial, Edwards said he would argue that the accused had wrongly pleaded guilty to an offence the Crown could not sustain in law.
On 15 May 2018, Qian approached a Customs officer at Fua’amotu International Airport after completing security screening by aviation officers.
He handed the Customs officer his passport and passenger departure card which declared that he was not carrying more than $TP10,000 in cash, or its equivalent in foreign currency.
Qian repeatedly denied carrying cash when asked by the Customs officer.
However, he eventually admitted that he was in fact carrying about his person and in his clothes a large sum of money in Tongan, US, and other currencies.
Acting Chief Justice Cato said the money was worth about TP$149,000.
The more senior of the Tongan female Customs’ officers said that she had asked him about further money and he had pulled out wads of money and placed them on the table.
He said the accused had produced more money in his hand which he had held out and had asked to go on the plane. She took this to amount to a bribe.
In his ruling, Acting Chief Justice Cato ruled that the guilty plea had been carried out under the appropriate legislation and must stand.
“The accused is duly convicted of failure to declare he was carrying currency over TP$10,000 contrary to section 97 of the Customs and Excise Management Act,” Mr Justice Cato said.
The accused was also originally charged with two counts of bribery of a government official and money laundering.
These charges were all dismissed.
Mr Justice Cato is still to sentence Qian.