The Tongan government has appointed a former finance minister who has been convicted of bribery as the country’s central bank governor.

Tatafu Moeaki became governor of the National Reserve Bank of Tonga on December 20. He succeeded Sione Ngongo Kioa, who was governor from 2013 to 2022.

Moeaki served in the Tongan cabinet between 2021 and 2022, including a stint as finance minister. In May 2022, a Tongan court convicted of him of two counts of bribery connected with his election as a member of