Australian Gang 'Boss' Murder in Vietnam: Suspect Claims Innocence

James Atua, a 31-year-old New Zealand national, implicated in the plot to murder Australian gang leader Lorenzo Lemalu in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, has declared he will fight all charges, according to Australia's Sydney Morning Herald (SMH). Atua and Fred Oliva Junior Papalii, 33, from Samoa, are accused of participating in the plan to kill Lemalu, the head of the Coconut Cartel, who was shot dead in May. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) stated that Samoan police will charge these individuals with conspiring with two Samoan citizens arrested in Vietnam to carry out the alleged murder. Shortly after the shooting, two Samoan citizens, Joseph Vaa and Steve Tafia, were arrested. Investigations tracing Vaa and Tafia led investigators to Samoa, where both had worked at a car rental company owned by Atua's mother, SMH reported. According to case records, Atua cooperated with police in late May but is suspected of intentionally providing false information about his relationship with those allegedly involved in the murder. SMH later reported that Atua went to the airport and attempted to bribe an immigration officer with 500 Samoan tala (approximately $1,800 USD) to return to New Zealand. He was charged with corruption and providing false information to the police, spending several weeks in jail. The AFP, along with Vietnamese and Samoan authorities, conducted searches and concluded that Atua and Papalii had colluded with suspected assassins to carry out the assassination, according to SMH. On September 10, both men were indicted for conspiracy to murder in connection with the shooting that killed an Australian citizen in Vietnam, Samoa Global News reported. Atua's lawyer told SMH that the charges against his client are completely unfounded. "My client completely denies the allegations and will vigorously defend himself in court in the coming period." Atua's lawyer also lobbied the Samoan Attorney-General, arguing that the bribery charge had weak legal grounds. The Attorney-General subsequently agreed and decided to drop the charge. Meanwhile, the charge of providing false information to the police was also dismissed by the court due to lack of evidence. However, Atua still faces charges of conspiracy to murder and money laundering, with his trial expected to commence on September 28. Greg Davis, AFP's Acting Regional Commander for the Pacific, stated that organized crime groups often operate across borders, making international cooperation between law enforcement agencies a crucial element in investigations and arrests. "Criminal networks rely on international connections to carry out serious criminal acts. Therefore, regional cooperation plays a particularly important role in preventing and dismantling these networks," Davis emphasized. He affirmed that the arrests were the result of close coordination between Samoan Police, Vietnamese authorities, and the AFP during the investigation into the gang leader's murder. The shooting occurred at a restaurant in central Ho Chi Minh City on May 21. Security camera footage showed a gunman approaching the victim and firing multiple shots at close range. The man who died at the scene was identified as Lorenzo Lemalu, 24. Australian officials and media reported that Lemalu was a key figure in the Coconut Cartel, an organized crime group primarily operating in Sydney. Before his murder, Lemalu was believed to have left Australia for Southeast Asia to live and continue operating the group's activities remotely. Following the assassination, Vietnamese authorities launched a manhunt for the suspects. The Ho Chi Minh City police chief did not mention cooperation with Cambodian authorities. A few days later, Cambodian police arrested two Samoan citizens in Sihanoukville: Joseph Vaa and Steve Tafia. At the time, these two were accused of being the direct perpetrators of the murder before attempting to flee to Cambodia. The current legal status of Joseph Vaa and Steve Tafia in Vietnam is unknown. According to Samoan media, Vietnam has refused Samoa's request to transfer the two individuals back to their home country to serve their sentences. Since June 2026, Vietnamese authorities have not released further updates on the case.