A CIVIL claim has been filed in the High Court against convicted fraudster Gerard Tauohu in relation to his involvement in the notorious One Link Pacifica Ponzi scheme.
The application for the confiscation and pecuniary penalty order was made pursuant to Section 28 of the Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
It seeks to confiscate several properties allegedly purchased from the scheme’s proceeds and to forfeit them to the Solomon Islands Government.
The properties, which are now the subject of civil proceedings, were acquired by Tauohu during the operation of the Ponzi scheme between 2019 and 2020.
The Crown alleged that these properties were tainted and were either used in connection with or acquired as a result of the offences for which Tauohu was convicted.
In 2021, Tauohu was found guilty of multiple criminal charges related to his involvement in the Ponzi scheme and was sentenced to three and a half years imprisonment.
After his release, he returned to his home village in South Malaita.
Despite being personally served with the application in his home village, Tauohu failed to respond to the claims, prompting the issuance of a contempt warrant in December 2023.
Subsequently, Tauohu was arrested in his home village and later released on strict bail conditions.
The matter is now scheduled for further proceedings in the High Court on 18 March 2025.
In 2019 and 2020, Tauohu stole almost $400,000 from five mentors of the scheme who deposited customers monies into One Link Pacifica’s manual stream.
The owner of the scheme, Charles Dora, who registered the money-making scheme in July 2019, was also sentenced in 2021 to two years in prison.
This was for operating an unlicenced banking business.
More than $300,000 was retrieved from the two defendants by the Police and was kept as exhibit at the Police exhibit facility at the Rove Police Headquarters.
However, in October 2020, this money mysteriously disappeared, leading to the suspension of a police officer looking after the exhibit facility.
The officer is currently awaiting trial in the Honiara Magistrate Court.
The total amount of money deposited into the scheme since it started until it closed was about $56,440, 475.
Public Prosecutor Jonathan Auga is appearing on behalf of the State in this civil case.
By ASSUMPTA BUCHANAN
Solomon Star, Honiara
