It has come to our attention that some Ministry confidential waste documents containing various
taxpayers’ information have been widely publicized on social media forum mainly the Facebook, since
Saturday 12 th June or Sunday 13 th June 2021.
These ‘confidential waste documents’ resulted from paper usage through;
1. Printing
2. Photocopying
3. Draft correspondences with taxpayers
4. Internal memorandums on work matters, etc.
which were used by officers during their reviews, amendments, reconciling and testings, reassessment
and drafting works and therefore were not required to be filed as records but are stored in our
‘confidential waste bins’.
The confidential waste bags publicly posted and shared on Facebook, was part of the confidential
rubbish that were sent to be disposed off at the Tafaigata landfill on Thursday 10 th June 2021.
In the presence of various officials, ten (10) confidential rubbish bags were buried deep into the
landfill. Sadly and unfortunately, some of these ‘confidential rubbish’ were presumably dug up and
illegally removed from the disposal site by someone and later posted on the Facebook.
These information were not found on the roadside as inaccurately reported on Facebook.
The continuous strict protection of taxpayers information is paramount to the Ministry as these are
considered ‘confidential information’ under section 9 of the Tax Administration Act 2012.
A breach of this section is considered an offence and faces not only monetary penalty but also
imprisonment term. Given the seriousness of the act to remove our ‘confidential rubbish’ illegally from
the disposal site, we have now lodged a complaint to the Ministry of Police and an investigation is now
ongoing.
I now seek the public’s support in making sure all posts containing photos of these waste documents
with our Ministry’s logo and name on it, are removed from Facebook by either: deleting the post(s),
report post and cease sharing or forwarding those photos.
I respectfully seek the public’s patience and support as we endeavour to resolve this matter.
Ma le fa’aaloalo tele lava.
Matafeo Avalisa Viali-Fautua’alii
CHIEF EXCUTIVE OFFICER