Aloysius Hamou

Lawyer John Griffin, told the Committal Court today that his client approved the ‘inter-government transaction’ from Treasury to the Bank of Papua New Guinea on Dec 17,2013 on instructions from the Prime Minister while the acting Secretary, Dairi Vele was out of the country.

This took place after bilateral agreements between the government of PNG and Israel was signed on Oct 15, 2013 for electricity projects in Lae and Port Moresby.

“Abuse of office doesn’t amount to breaches in processes of the Public Service Management Act,” he said.

The charges were laid in relation to police investigating the alleged illegal procurement of K50 million paid to an Israeli company by the name of LR Group of Israel.

Hamou was charged as the Section 32 officer who approved and facilitated for approving and  for the release of the funds to purchase two power generators without NEC endorsement.

Police investigations sourced documents from the Department of Treasury indicated the defendant as in his capacity as the deputy secretary for Budgets and Finance Management approved the payment as the section 32 officer.