‘Etuate Lavulavu

‘Etuate Lavulavu (born 1958 or 1959) is a Tongan politician and former member of the Legislative Assembly of Tonga for Vavaʻu. He was stripped of his seat in 2016 after being convicted of bribery, precipitating the 2016 Vavaʻu 16 by-election.

Lavulavu is a Mormon. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Brigham Young University–Hawaii followed by a Master of Arts from Brigham Young University in Utah. He publicly claimed to have a PhD from the University of Edenvale, a US diploma mill,[1] and began referring to himself as "Professor".[2]

He was first elected to the Legislative Assembly in the 2002 election. During his first term he was arrested in Utah, USA in October 2003 over a 1997 immigration scam.[3][4] In 2004 he was convicted after pleading guilty to two counts of illegal use of a birth certificate.[5] In 2003 Lavulavu apologised to the House after an altercation with fellow MP ʻAkilisi Pohiva.[6] In 2004 he was suspended from Parliament for three days for disrupting the proceedings of the House.[7] He lost his seat in the 2005 Tongan general election, but was re-elected in the 2008 election.

In the November 2010 general election, standing in newly districted single-seat constituency of Vavaʻu 14, he lost his seat to Lisiate ‘Akolo, obtaining 540 votes (22.7%) to ‘Akolo's 665 (28%).[8]

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.[9] He was also found to have violated election spending limits, and his election was declared void. His wife, 'Akosita Lavulavu, won the resulting byelection.[10]

On 3 March 2018 Lavulavu and his wife were both arrested on fraud charges stemming from their management of the ‘Unuaki ‘o Tonga Royal Institute in 2016.[11]