SNPF Stop Notice on Chinese Businessman who attempted to bribe CEO with $4k

By Lagi Keresoma/

Apia, SAMOA – 03 April 2024: The Samoa National Provident Fund (SNPF) has issued a stop notice on a Chinese businessman who has a ST$10 million loan with the Fund and who attempted to bribe the CEO with $4,000 tala.

The Chairman of the SNPF Board, Papalii Panoa Tavita Moala made the revelation in an in depth series of interviews with Talamua Media where he also spoke of an inherent culture of collusion within the Funds management.

The Chinese businessman who has a Samoan wife tried to leave the country but his wife informed the Chairman who instructed the management to apply for a stop notice with Immigration and Police.

The Chinese businessman owns several supermarkets in Upolu and Savaii and bought a hotel in town with a ST$7m loan from SNPF.

Panoa said when he checked, the businessman also had another $3m loan with SNPF which brings the total amount of his loan to ST$10m.

“I asked for the Arrears Report but was told that only the management get to see the report, not the Board,” said Panoa.

He then gave instructions to hand over the Arrears Report and found that the Chinese businessman has not paid the loan for over a year.

“The arrears for 12 months is now over $1.3m and the senior officer in charge sat on it and no payments were collected,” he said.

Attempt to bribe CEO
Panoa said when the new SNPF Chief Executive Officer Lemalu Selesetina Reti took office, she wrote to the Chinese businessman to pay his loan.

Panoa said the businessman came and talked with Lemalu in the office and said he will pay the loan.

“Before he left, he gave the CEO and envelope saying it was for her and when she opened it, there was $4000 cash inside,” said Papalii.

The CEO called the businessman and asked him to come back and take his envelope but never did.

“The CEO then handed the money over and receipted by the Finance Division as payment to the outstanding loan,” said Papalii.

Several days later, the businessman paid SNPF a $50,000 tala cheque towards the loan.

“But the cheque bounced as there were not enough funds,” said Papalii.

The NPF Building in downtown Apia.

Investigations against the Chairman
Papalii stepped aside voluntarily to allow for two investigations against him following a Letter of Concern by seven senior managers of the Fund to the Minister of Finance.

Papalii headed the SNPF for eleven years before he was appointed as Chairman of the Board in 2022. He said there has been a culture of collusion within management and there is evidence of senior managers protecting others and hiding information such as the loan by the Chinese businessman.

He said the senior officer in charge of the loan resigned with immediate effect after the unpaid arrears came to light.

Meanwhile, the first of two investigations against Papalii have cleared him of wrongdoing and calling the management’s complaints as “petty and unsubstantiated.”

The second investigation still in progress is carried out by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Public Enterprises under the Public Bodies Act.

Meanwhile, one of the major issues that came out since the managements Letter of Concern, was the publication of confidential information of $67m loans to seven local companies that had been leaked and publicized in a local newspaper.

Papalii said that the Fund has already apologized to the clients whose confidential information have been illegally publicized after the information was given by the Management staff to a member of the Parliament Finance Committee.

Papalii told Talamua that he suspected dirty politics was behind how the information was obtained and later leaked and he feared for legal repercussions and the liability the Fund has been exposed to.

He insisted that the Public Accounts Committee can only access such confidential information through a court order or that a client has given consent.

SNPF currently has over $1billion tala worth of assets from over 40,000 contributors with active accounts with the Fund and property investments both in Samoa and overseas.