Pay up or face jail time: Court

A gold buyer has been given 6 months by the National Court to repay K180,000 or face jail time of up to 4 years.

Joseph Wai was given a concurrent sentence of 4 years for two different charges, which the Waigani National Court found him guilty for.

He was recently convicted for conspiring with others to misappropriate K180,000. The monies misappropriated were from 781 grams of gold he got to see on behalf of Anna Sani, a local gold buyer in Wewak.

The gold was valued at AUD$36,000 which the court calculated to be equivalent to K180,000.

Deputy Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika sentenced Wai last Friday to 2 years in jail for conspiracy and 4 years in jail for misappropriating K180,000, the value of 781.21 grams of gold.

Between Oct –Nov 2015, Wai, his wife Kila Verepo (also in court) and two others who are yet to be arrested and charged for the offence, got the gold to sell on behalf of Sani. However, she never received the monies for her gold.

Sir Gibbs, in giving the court's penalty against Wai last Friday, said his sentence of 4 years will be suspended by the Court if he repays all the monies within 6 months.

He is expected back on Feb 6, 2017, where the court will get an update of his repayment. He is expected to repay all the monies by June 2017.

(Pic source: annewsments)

Author: 
Sally Pokiton