Tonga's new king quits controversial business interests

0 Comments | AFP, September, 2006

NUKU'ALOFA (AFP) — Tonga's new king is to relinquish all his business interests in the small Pacific island nation, it has been announced. A statement issued by Tonga's Lord Chamberlain Fielakepa said King Siaosi Tupou V would give up all his business and commercial interests to rule the country.

"Arrangements for the divestment of his holdings in the Shoreline Power companies are near completion. The sales of the rest of His Majesty's interests will follow as soon as suitable shareholding arrangements can be made," the statement said. King Tupou V was sworn in last Sunday, only hours after his father King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV, 88, died in an Auckland hospital where he had been treated for more than a year. The 58-year-old former Crown Prince is seen as more open to reform...