Etuate Lavulavu (born 1958 or 1959) is a

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

n politician and former member of the

Legislative Assembly of Tonga The Legislative Assembly of Tonga ( to, Fale Alea ʻo Tonga) is the unicameral legislature of Tonga. The assembly has 26 members in which 17 members elected by majority of the people for a 5-year term in multi-seat constituencies via the singl ...

for Vavau. He was stripped of his seat in 2016 after being convicted of bribery, precipitating the 2016 Vavau 16 by-election. He graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

from

Brigham Young University–Hawaii Brigham Young University–Hawaii (BYU–Hawaii) is a private university in Laie, Hawaii. It is owned and operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). BYU-Hawaii was founded in 1955, and became a satellite campus of ...

followed by a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

from

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. He publicly claimed to have a PhD from the University of Edenvale, a US

diploma mill A diploma mill (also known as a degree mill) is a company or organization that claims to be a higher education institution but provides illegitimate academic degrees and diplomas for a fee. The degrees can be fabricated (made-up), falsified (fa ...

, and began referring to himself as "Professor". He was first elected to the Legislative Assembly in the 2002 election. During his first term he was arrested in

, USA in October 2003 over a 1997 immigration scam. In 2004 he was convicted after pleading guilty to two counts of illegal use of a birth certificate. In 2003 Lavulavu apologised to the House after an altercation with fellow MP Akilisi Pohiva. In 2004 he was suspended from Parliament for three days for disrupting the proceedings of the House. He lost his seat in the

2005 Tongan general election General elections were held in Tonga on 17 March 2005. Only nine members of the 30-seat parliament were elected, the rest appointed by the King or were members of the Tongan aristocracy. The Human Rights and Democracy Movement won seven of the n ...

, but was re-elected in the 2008 election. In the November 2010 general election, standing in newly districted single-seat constituency of Vavau 14, he lost his seat to Lisiate Akolo, obtaining 540 votes (22.7%) to Akolo's 665 (28%). Lavulavu was re-elected in the 2014 Tongan general election, but on 29 January 2016 Lavulavu was convicted of bribery by Tonga's Supreme Court for building roads as part of his election campaign and providing inducements to voters. He was also found to have violated election spending limits, and his election was declared void. His wife, Akosita Lavulavu, won the resulting by-election. On 3 March 2018 Lavulavu and his wife

ʻAkosita Lavulavu Akosita Havili Lavulavu (born 1985) is a Tongan politician and former Cabinet Minister. In 2021 she was jailed for fraud. Lavulavu is the wife of former MP Etuate Lavulavu. She was educated at Tonga High School, with tertiary study at Brigham ...

were both arrested on fraud charges stemming from their management of the Unuaki o Tonga Royal Institute in 2016. On 4 June 2021 they were both convicted of 3 counts of obtaining money by false pretenses. On 2 July 2021, he and his wife were each sentenced to six years in prison by the Supreme Court. On 11 October 2022 the convictions were quashed by the Court of Appeal, and the case sent back to the Supreme Court for retrial.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lavulavu, Etuate Members of the Legislative Assembly of Tonga Living people Brigham Young University–Hawaii alumni Brigham Young University alumni Tongan Latter Day Saints People from Vavaʻu Infrastructure ministers of Tonga Public works ministers of Tonga Year of birth missing (living people) Tongan politicians convicted of crimes Prisoners and detainees of Tonga Tongan prisoners and detainees