Samoa court case

Last week the Court of Appeal in Samoa declared a decision made last August by the former Chief Justice could not stand, that it was unsafe.

Patu Tiava'asu'e Falefatu Sapolu had reserved his decision in 1997 and after retiring last year was given additional time to clear a backlog of unresolved cases.

John Upton said he believed Patu's actions were disgraceful.

"The reason why I say that is that it continued over a period of many many years and it involved many, many cases.

The ministers have been charged after the Congregational Christian Church made the decision last July to refuse to abide by new income tax laws.

The laws require church pastors and the O le Ao o le Malo or head of state to pay income tax, but for nearly a year, ministers have refused to.

Each minister faces the two charges of failure to withhold taxes and failure to file tax returns.

The Congregational Christian Church has said that paying income tax is an affront to their faith, and that many pastors live off donations.