ʻAsipeli ʻAminiasi Kefu is a

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

n lawyer and civil servant who has served as Solicitor General of Tonga. From 2014 to 2019 he was acting Attorney General of Tonga. Kefu was educated at

Tonga High School Tonga High School is a selective state-owned co-ed secondary school located in Nukualofa, Tonga. The school educates students aged 11 to 18 (Forms 1 - 7). History Tonga High School was established in 1947 by Prince Tungi as the Minister of Educa ...

and

Nelson College Nelson College is the oldest state secondary school in New Zealand, a feat achieved in part thanks to its original inception as a private school. It is an all-boys school in the City of Nelson that teaches from years 9 to 13. In addition, it r ...

. He studied law at the

University of Waikato The University of Waikato (), established in 1964, is a Public university, public research university located in Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton, New Zealand. An additional campus is located in Tauranga. The university performs research in nume ...

and

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...

, where he wrote a Masters thesis on "Recent constitutional developments in Tonga : where to now?". He later studied public sector management at

Massey University Massey University () is a Public university, public research university in New Zealand that provides internal and distance education. The university has campuses in Auckland, Palmerston North, and Wellington. Data from Universities New Zealand ...

. He worked as an assistant legal officer for Tonga's Crown Law Department from 1997 and became a Senior Crown Counsel in 2002. In July 2008 he became acting Solicitor General. The appointment was made permanent in April 2009. As Solicitor-General, he was responsible for prosecutions over the

2006 Nukuʻalofa riots The 2006 Nukualofa riots, also known as the 2006 Tongan riots, started on 16 November, in the Tongan capital of Nukualofa. The Legislative Assembly of Tonga was due to adjourn for the year and despite promises of action, had done little to ad ...

, including the unsuccessful prosecution of pro-democracy members of Parliament. He also gave evidence at the inquiry into the sinking of the MV ''Princess Ashika'', and managed the subsequent criminal prosecutions. Following the departure of Attorney-General Neil Adsett he became acting Attorney-General. While expected to be a short-term position, Kefu remained in the role until he was replaced by Linda Folaumoetu'i in March 2019. In February 2015 he was accused of interfering with the judiciary over his sentencing recommendation for former Speaker of the legislative Assembly Lord Tuʻilakepa. In 2017 he defended King

Tupou VI Tupou VI (ʻAho‘eitu ʻUnuakiʻotonga Tukuʻaho; born 12 July 1959) is King of Tonga. The youngest child of King Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV, he served as Prime Minister of Tonga from 2000 to 2006. Following his elder brother's accession to the ...

's controversial decision to dissolve the legislative assembly and call early elections in an unsuccessful effort to unseat the elected government of

ʻAkilisi Pōhiva Samiuela ʻAkilisi Pōhiva (7 April 1941 – 12 September 2019) was a Tongan pro-democracy activist and politician. A key leader of the Democratic Party of the Friendly Islands (DPFI), he served as the Prime Minister of Tonga from 2014 to his ...

. After retiring as Attorney-General in 2019 he moved to

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, where he became a crown prosecutor and served on the board of rugby team

Moana Pasifika Moana Pasifika is a professional rugby union team based in New Zealand and made up of players from various Pacific Island nations as well as New Zealand or Australian born players of Pasifika heritage, including Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and the Cook I ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kefu, 'Asipeli 'Aminiasi Living people People educated at Nelson College University of Waikato alumni Victoria University of Wellington alumni Massey University Tongan lawyers 21st-century Tongan people Tongan civil servants 21st-century New Zealand lawyers Solicitors-general of Tonga Attorneys general of Tonga Year of birth missing (living people)