The District Court has issued a warrant of arrest for the former head of Samoa Triathlon Federation Seti Afoa as he failed to appear in court.

Athletes of the sporting body had filed a private prosecution case against Mr. Afoa and he was due to appear in court on Tuesday.

Mr. Afoa is charged with obtaining by deception and attempting to obtain by deception. The allegations are related to money provided by the international federation that was not put into the sporting body’s accounts.

Private prosecutor Gafatasi made an application for a warrant of arrest that was granted by the court. In a letter to his clients, Lani and Darren Young, he said it was the prerogative of the registrar whether to keep Mr. Afoa in custody or release him on bail.

According to the private prosecutor, if Mr, Afoa had fled the country the police would arrest him on arrival.

According to a statement from Darren and Lani Young, they said they were disappointed that Mr. Afoa refused to attend and begin the process of answering the charges against him. 

"A person is innocent until proven guilty, and we trust in our country's justice system to resolve the matter," they said.

"Because we are athletes and we care about transparency, accountability, and the proper financial management of our sport. We do this because we care about the next generation of athletes coming through.

“We know cycling is not the only sport in Samoa struggling with these issues. We hope this case can shine a light on the need for better sports governance, and the ways we all can better advocate for Samoa's athletes."