Loan Officer confirm complainant was absent when processing SNPF loan

By Lagi Keresoma/

Apia, Samoa – 24 September 2025: The former Samoa National Provident Fund (SNPF) employee, Antonina Leleisiuao admitted in court that she never saw the complainant, Police Inspector Nanai Vani Vai sign any documents as guarantor of Visesio Silao and wife Rossie’s $235,000 loan application when the loan was being processed.

According to SNPF loan documents, Nanai is one of the guarantors of the loan and he also signed a consent and confirmation letter indicating his agreement as a guarantor on 17 June 2022.

The court case is on Nanai’s complaint with the police where he denied all statements especially his signature that appeared on the loan documents on 17 June 2022 as he was overseas at the time.

Antonina told the court that communications with Visesio, a former police officer and his wife Rossie were all through emails.

The other loan guarantors included two police officers and a lawyer.

Inspector Nanai’s evidence
Sometime in 2022, Visesio, requested Nanai’s support in confirming his loan at SNPF.

Nanai told Visesio to check with SNPF if he was eligible as a guarantor.

He told the Court that that was the only time he spoke with Visesio over the request and was not aware of any other matter such as signing the consent and confirmation letter for the loan.

Nanai said he clearly recalled that from 5 to 28 June 2022, he and former Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mataafa were in Fiji for leaders meeting before travelling on to New Zealand where Fiame met with FAST supporters then continued on to Africa for the pre-CHOGM meeting.

However, defence argued that Nanai and Fiame returned to Samoa on 28 June 2022 then he signed the consent letter on 29 June 2022. But this contradicts SNPF documents that showed Nanai signed as a guarantor on 17 June 2022.

Nanai was shown the PM’s travel schedule specifically for the month of June and he confirmed it as Fiame’s first official trip as Prime Minister.

Nanai was asked if he had spoken to Visesio while he was abroad and he said “yes”.

“Visesio used the police signal contact system to contact me and told me that the loan was approved, and I was needed to sign as a guarantor,” said Nanai.

Nanai told Visesio to inform SNPF to wait till he returns as he wanted to know how the loan would be paid and other details.

He was not aware how much the loan was and was aware that if the loan is in default, his pay would be deducted to cover any arrears.

“When did you know about the loan?” he was asked.

“When I tapped into my SNPF portal,” said Nanai.

Nanai then approached Visesio and asked him about the loan and he also went to SNPF and looked at the documents and found a consent letter with his name, his signature and phone number on it.

“Did you authorise anyone to sign on your behalf?” he was asked.

Nanai said “no” and denied ever writing a consent or a confirmation letter to SNPF.

Nanai then asked Visesio to do something about the loan before he took action against him.

Defendant, unsure what he did was wrong
Nanai told the Court that Visesio and his wife visited him at his home at Fasitoo and apologised but Visesio insisted he was unsure that what he had done was wrong.

Nanai told the court that if that was what he believed, then he was not accepting his apology. “Na ou tali iai, a fa’apea o le tulaga lea e te talanoa mai ai, ou te le talia la lau faatoesega.”

On his second visit to Nanai at Fasitoo, Visesio took his mother and again he posed the same question, what did he do wrong.

Defense counsel Fuimaono Sefo Ainuu put to Nanai that he returned to Samoa on 28 June 2022 and signed the letters on 29 June 2022.

“I did not sign any consent or confirmation letter but I did tell Visesio to uplift my payslip from the office and ask SNPF if I was eligible as a guarantor,” Nanai insisted.

The Court noted that Nanai signed his name 10 times on a document and he clarified that the investigative officer Inspector, Paul Taua’a  asked him to do so as they tried to verify his signature.

Nanai is a Police Inspector who has served the Ministry of Police for 31 years and after four years serving as a security guard for Fiame. He returned to the Police recently and is serving at the Tactical Operation Service (TOS).

He knows the defendant well as he had served under Nanai’s supervision.

The defendant took the stand and confirmed Nanai signed the document as a guarantor and also confirmed visiting Nanai at his home twice.

The charges
Visesio is charged with two counts of forgery that took place at Matafele in February 2022 and Moto’otua in June 2022.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges and asked the court for name suppression that the court denied.

Counsels are preparing their final submissions on the case.