NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

Tongan man admits trying to bribe cop with corned beef and chicken

22 May, 2020 06:26 AM

Tongan man has pleaded guilty to trying to bribe a police officer with chicken and corned beef.

Fili Ta'ai, 56, was arrested on drugs charges last July.

While in custody, he offered a police officer a box of chicken, 3kg of corned beef, and three plastic bags of sweet potatoes for his release.

The officer immediately reported the bribery attempt to his superiors, resulting in a charge.

Matangi Tonga reports Ta'ai will be sentenced on the June 25.

Earlier this year, courts in Tonga dealt with a much more high-profile bribery case when former Prime Minister Lord Tu'ivakano was charged with accepting bribes in a passport approval case.

The bribery charges alleged that between 2013-2014, while Foreign Affairs Minister, Tu'ivakano accepted money for the issuance of Tongan passports to various Chinese nationals.

In March, Tu'ivakano was eventually found guilty of three charges, including making a false statement for the purpose of obtaining a passport and perjury.

In April he received a two-year sentence, fully suspended and a fine for passport, perjury and firearm offences.

TEST QUESTIONS

1. Identify and evaluateone ethical issuein the newspaper article using the concept ofethical interconnectedness(5 marks).

2.Evaluatethecharacteroftwopeople (or groups/institutions) in the article usingtwo principlesfrom the theory ofvirtue ethics(5 marks).

3. Discuss the wrongdoing in the newspaper article (2 marks). Relate your discussion of this wrongdoing totwo principlesfrom the theory ofdeontology(3 marks).

4. Outline autilitarian'sresponse to the newspaper article (2 marks). Refer to at leasttwo principlesfrom this theory (3 marks).

5.Analysetwo approachesof governance referred to in the article(2 marks) andcritically evaluatetwo principles of governancethat are beingcompromised(3 marks).