Ferry CEO gives evidence

John Jonesse, the New Zealand businessman who bought the doomed Tongan ferry Princess Ashika, will give evidence tomorrow to a Tongan royal commission examining why it sank.

John Jonesse, 60, was chief executive of the Shipping Corporation of Polynesia (SCP) when the Ashika was bought.

A royal commission of inquiry is sitting in Nuku'alofa, investigating the August 5 sinking of the 37-year-old ferry with the loss of 74 lives.

Mr Jonesse was giving evidence to the commission in November, when he was suspended from the corporation and lost the services of the corporation's lawyers at the commission.

Now the commission is calling Mr Jonesse back into the witness box, whether or not he has a lawyer.

Meanwhile, former SCP freight officer Nikola Tau told the inquiry the cargo deck of the Princess Ashika was flooded on every voyage it took when it was in operation.

A refrigerator full of frozen food floated and ceased to operate.

Mr Tau said that during SCP management meetings, which Mr Jonesse attended, he raised his concern about the floating freezers and the water.

"On each of our meetings I always raised this problem of the floating of the refrigerators and the water entering the vessel - water about 12ins (30cm).

"His response was he instructed the workshop people to construct a platform to place the refrigerators on, but there was nothing done."

- NZPA