Laauli Leuatea Polataivao

Laauli Leuatea Polataivao Schmidt is a Samoan politician and former speaker and deputy speaker of the Samoan Parliament.[1] He is the Member of Parliament for the Gagaifomauga No. 3 constituency and a member of the Human Rights Protection Party. He was first elected to the Fono in the March 2006 elections. He was the Speaker from 2011 to 2016.[2]

Laauli Leuatea Polataivao Schmidt
Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Samoa
In office
18 March 2011 – 16 March 2016
Preceded byTolofuaivalelei Falemoe Lei’ataua
Succeeded byToleafoa Faafisi
Member of the Samoa Parliament
for Gagaifomauga No. 3
Assumed office
31 March 2006
Preceded byVagana Pelei'upu Tamate
Personal details
Political partyHuman Rights Protection Party

Laauli is the son of former Government Minister and founding member of the HRPP Polataivao Fosi Schmidt[3]

In 2019 Schmidt was charged with more than a hundred counts of forgery and theft related to a company dispute with senior HRPP MP Peseta Vaifou Tevaga.[4] He was acquitted of all charges in June 2020.[5]

In May 2020 he was sacked from the HRPP by Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi after voting against proposed constitutional amendments.[6] He subsequently announced that he would be forming a new political party to contest the 2021 election.[7]

On 30 June 2020, the Parliamentary Privileges and Ethics Committee found that Schmidt had misled Parliament and recommended he be suspended from Parliament for three months.[8] Schmidt apologised to the House and said he was resigning from Parliament.[9] However, he did not send a formal resignation letter to the Speaker, and it is unclear if his resignation has been effective.[10]

References
  1. Profile Archived 2007-08-24 at the Wayback Machine at the Samoan Fono
  2. http://archive.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/arc/2351_11.htm
  3. " Following in their fathers' foot steps into Samoa politics" Archived 2011-07-10 at the Wayback Machine, EventPolynesia.com, 8 April 2006.
  4. Tina Mata'afa-Tufele (26 May 2020). "Acting CJ to deliver Laauli ruling in June". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  5. "Samoan MP found not guilty but media man guilty of forgery". RNZ. 27 June 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  6. "More ructions in Samoa's ruling HRPP". RNZ. 27 May 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  7. "Former ruling HRPP MP to establish new political party in Samoa". RNZ. 1 June 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  8. Lanuola Tusani Tupufia - Ah Tong (30 June 2020). "Parliament Committee recommends for La'auli to be suspended". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  9. Lanuola Tusani Tupufia - Ah Tong (30 June 2020). "La'auli resigns from Parliament". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  10. "Samoa MP not ready to hand in resignation letter". RNZ. 10 July 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2020.


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