Speaker clears air on online drug claims
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The Speaker of the House Papalii Lio Masipau cleared the air on allegations that a recent drug bust from the police was conducted at his residence and involved a member of his family.
In a press statement released on Wednesday, Speaker Papalii said the claims circulated on Facebook by the SSIG were false.
A page called Olfp Love SSIG on Facebook released a video this week that showed a man who was hiding in the ceiling of a house being captured by the police.
The page owner alleged the raid was conducted at the residence of the Speaker at Vaivase-uta and the man who was arrested by the police was a nephew of the Speaker.
In response to the allegations, Speaker Papalii maintained the accusations were false.
“I shall reiterate and add clarity to the subject and the public that the Office of the Speaker is an official appointment pertaining to Parliament which is the public in general,” he wrote.
“It is responsible for providing accountability and transparency to the people of this country. “Thus, it is more appropriate to set the record straight on these false accusations.
“I therefore recommend the SSIG, to carefully consider their announcement so that to ensure they are giving out true and accurate information given that the resident mentioned in this article is not of the Speakers, whereas they have falsely accused the integrity of the Office of the Speaker.”
Papalii reminded the Office of the Speaker is not an appointment for a specific political party but for all the people of Samoa.
Police Commissioner Auapaau Logoitino Filipo was contacted for a comment about the raid in question, he confirmed the private residence didn’t belong to the Speaker.
“It’s an old video from the Vaivase-uta raid that you already ran a story on,” he added.
The raid took place two weeks ago where six men were arrested by Police from a family residence and were getting ready to distribute the drugs.
According to the police report, the six men had in their possession stashes of meth in zip lock-bags and taxi drivers from a nearby taxi stand are alleged to be involved in distributing the drugs.
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