Levao given 24 hours to prove claims that Samoa Revenue employees “dishonest.”

Gagaemauga No. 2 MP, Levaopolo Talatonu has until today to provide proof of claims he made in Parliament yesterday that employees of the Ministry of Revenue are “dishonest.”Yesterday, Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi gave the Opposition MP 24 hours.“If you can’t prove it, then I’ll be the one to decide your fate,” Tuilaepa said in Parliament.The 24hr notice from the Prime Minister follows accusations from Levao that employees of the Ministry of Revenue were “dishonest” in collecting tax. Levao had said he’s noticed that revenues were only half a million tala when it could be better.“It should be millions,” he said. “The workers are not honest in their work and in collecting the money.”Opposition leader, Palusalue Fa’apo supported Levao, but the Minister of Revenue, Tuiloma Lameko objected.“The allegations from the MP show no respect towards the sons and daughters of our nation who are employees at the Ministry,” said Tuiloma. “I request to have the disrespectful allegations (tu’uaiga le mafaufau) removed. There is no evidence to prove them.”Tuilaepa intervened in support of his Minister.“It was their hard work that led to the discovery of containers that were full of alcohol and declared with wrong documents,” Tuilaepa told Parliament. Levao has been charged by the Customs Department in relation to the container in question. The matter is before the Court.In Parliament, Levao defended himself.“You have accused me of being disrespectful but the person who prepared the wrong documents is still working,” Levao said.At that point, veteran MP A’eau Leavaiseeta took the floor. He told the Speaker of the House, La’auli Leuatea Polata’ivao to move a motion to give the MP the opportunity to prove the allegation.The Speaker accepted the request.Outside Parliament, Levao said he is confident about the claims.“If they had requested it today (yesterday) I would surely have them ready,” he said.