A matai from the village of Vaitoomuli, Palauli, has taken the Constituency of Palauli No.3 district council to court for lack of accountability in the use of the $1 million district grant.

Autagavaia Upa said his lawyer, Unasa Iuni Sapolu, has written to the district council to seek an understanding of where all the $1 million went because he is still in the dark.

He said he has asked this question before, but there has been no explanation from the district council on how these funds were spent.

According to Autagavaia, ever since this project started, there have been no reports of how these funds were spent as per the policies given by the Ministry of Women, Community and Social Development.

He said, as a matai of the constituency and also a villager of Vaitoomuli, he has the right to seek an understanding of what happened to the money for the project.

Autagavaia said his lawyer in her letter was questioning the former member of parliament, who is also the caretaker Minister of Women, Lagaaia Siaki.

He said he didn't get any cents from nor equipment in the last three years.

Autagavaia claimed that the Palauli No.3 district council has ceased to exist. Autagavaia said he will fight this in court because this was about the accountability of public funds.

Treasurer for Palauli No.3 district council, Aiolupotea Tony, said he was quite busy on Tuesday doing candidacy registration and referred all queries to Lagaaia.

Minister Lagaaia was unavailable to comment.

In April 2023, Autagavaia and family were banished by the district council for raising the same issue. He had asked for financial reports for the use of the district grant. In September 2023, the Lands and Titles Court overturned this decision.

A few weeks ago, the MWCSD released the third million of the district grant to 50 of the 51 constituencies. This means that in the last three years, each of the districts had access to $3 million. The financial reports have never been made public.