Prime Minister Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Schmidt rejected a Cabinet directive to reimburse his medical travel and treatment costs from September 2025, according to a government press statement released Sunday evening.

Referring to a Sunday Observer report on Cabinet directive FK (24) Faapitoa 10 , the government statement said: “To date, no transaction of reimbursement of the Prime Minister’s travel and medical costs has happened.”

The cabinet directive said that any reimbursement would have been made through the $12 million Overseas Treatment Scheme (OTS) fund, to which the government press said the Prime Minister is “entitled to.”

According to the government statement, upon his return in November 2025, the Prime Minister said his family had covered all treatment and travel expenses.

“Upon the Prime Minister’s return in November, he confirmed that his family had settled his treatment and travel costs, and that he would seek no reimbursement from government,” the statement said.

However, the Samoa Observer emailed questions last Wednesday to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ministry of Finance, Saoleititi Maeva Betham-Vaai, seeking comment on the directive, but had not received a response as of publication.

The directive, FK (24) Faapitoa 10, records a Cabinet meeting held on 19 September, 2025, where the Cabinet discussed reimbursement for the Prime Minister’s trip from 21 September to 28 September, 2025. However, the Prime Minister remained overseas until 15 November.

According to the directive, citing the government’s financial constraints at the time, the cabinet agreed to reimburse the prime minister. The directive referred to the national budget, which had not yet been passed at the time and was later approved in October 2025.