[2] Shortly after being appointed he faced an impeachment motion in parliament over the loss of money from the Tonga Trust Fund.
[3] In his role as head of customs, he was responsible for the Tongan government's efforts to ban the independent newspaper the Times of Tonga.
[4] As Finance Minister he pursued a program of economic reform, including the introduction of a goods and services tax.
[7] ʻUtoikamanu responded to the resulting budget pressures by proposing further privatisations[8] and public service cuts.
[10] The loan later led to significant controversy, with a parliamentary committee finding it was illegal and that the funds had been misappropriated.