Suppose the chairman of the Fa’atuatua ile Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) party told supporters that the money being collected was for a party headquarters when it was to pay the $800,000 overdraft at a local bank. In that case, he has lied to the people.

It is nothing short of a scam. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines scam as a fraudulent or deceptive act or operation. The New Zealand Police says scams are intended to manipulate or trick people into giving away their details, financial details, or money. A scam becomes fraud when the individual responsible for the scam gets and uses someone’s personal, financial information or money under false pretences, for their gain.

According to the Minister of Public Enterprises and treasurer of FAST Party, Leatinuu Wayne So’oialo, supporters in Alaska, Australia, New Zealand and the United States were told by Laauli that the money was for a headquarters.

The plan for the headquarters has now been conveniently delayed. It was also revealed that there are no lands, plans or even talks for a headquarters. The FAST Party’s account had an overdraft of more than $800,000, almost a million tala. The financial committee agreed to do birthday anniversaries overseas including galas and dinners to fundraise to service the owed money.

“But for him to lie in front of the caucus that we will fundraise for the headquarters, basically scamming them and also the supporters to believe that was the intention for the money,” Leatinuu revealed.

“This is one of the biggest scams ever by a political party. Going overseas to tell people the money is for headquarters when in actual fact it wasn’t, it was to pay a substantial amount of overdraft in the bank.”

It was also revealed that a bank account was created to deposit all the money collected but not all the money was deposited. Does this explain why the live feeds from the fundraisers were cut short when the time came to announce how much was collected?

This also poses the question of how the undeposited money was brought back to Samoa, how much of the collected funds is unaccounted for and who has the money. This points to money laundering, another serious offence. This reflects poorly on the FAST party if they knowingly hoodwinked Samoans to give a massive amount of money by not telling them what the fundraising was for. It is nothing short of a scam.

The overdraft has been proven by the bank account details of the FAST party. It is also sad to note that Laauli charged the party an exorbitant sum for the use of Maota Samoa. It seems that the former cabinet minister benefitted financially from the formation of the party.

While Laauli denied the allegations of scam, he did not deny that he wanted to be paid for the use of his properties, which he has the right to do so. This also means that all FAST party activities happening at Maota Samoa will be charged to the party again.

Leatinuu claims he has all the evidence as the treasurer and the signatory to the cheques and payments to show what the raised money was used for.

This is also a case where politicians are once again getting away with making false promises. The two are the same thing, scams. Read the 2021 FAST party manifesto and look at what was promised in return for votes. If that has not happened for valid reasons then it was a scam to get your votes, similarly if Laauli told supporters all over the world to donate towards the construction of a new headquarters, when there were no plans to do so, then it was indeed a scam as claimed by Leatinuu.

It is also of concern that the FAST members from either side have chosen now to raise the issue. This should have been done at the earliest but we acknowledge that it has been raised and people made aware that they have been allegedly duped.

These incidents call for new laws that would hold political parties accountable. Political parties must declare the sources of their funds, who their donors are, how much has been collected from each fundraiser and why the fundraiser was done. Failure to do these should hold severe punishments under the law including deregistration of the party.

A political party should also not be used as a money-making machine. The light has been shed on a concerning incident which suggests that people should think twice before believing what politicians promise or say. Arm yourself with the right information and make informed choices.