Misappropriation

Minister Daki in an exclusive interview with this newsroom today denied all allegations labelled against him and his secretary.

Minister Daki and Secretary John Akipe have both been alleged of squandering K15m from the PNGDF funds.

Mr Daki clarified that the K15m is currently parked in a PNGDF Trust account for the Commercial Support Program. 

“Some three to four million kina gets deposited to the CSP Trust Account annually for the past 10 years.”

Daugunu was charged with two counts of Official Corruption under Section 87 (1) (a) (i), and Section 87 (1) (b) respectively, two counts of Misappropriation of Property under Section 383A (1) (a) and two counts of Abuse of Office under section 92 (1) of the PNG Criminal Code Act, Chapter 262.

Police investigation revealed that the defendant allegedly used her position to create avenues to milk hospital funds for personal benefit, and not in the interest of the institution, the government and the people of Papua New Guinea.

The Community Mine Continuation Agreement (CMCA) Trust Funds are held with ANZ Bank.  

SPFCIT is headed by Commissioner of Police, David Manning, and comprises of police detectives, a forensic accounting specialist and legal counsel engaged the through Department of Justice & Attorney General (DJAG).  

Thirty-six-year-old Delmarine Angeli, from East Sepik Province, and 28-year-old Rosemary Batari from Morobe Province have both been arrested and charged, under Section 372 of the Criminal Code Act, for allegedly stealing. 

According to court documents, both defendants were cashiers working for the airline when they were caught on 30th May and July 1st this year respectively.

Police alleged that both defendants took the money when directed to deposit in the company’s account.

Judy Guina Lamo from Alepa village, Central Province, was arrested and charged for one count of misappropriation, under the Criminal Code Act.

According to Court documents, from the 1^st of April to the 31^st of October 2013, the defendant used her position as an accounts officer for Department of Provincial and Local Government Affairs to print several cheques.

Fifty-nine-year-old Kenneth James West from Brisbane, Australia, was arrested and charged with one count of false pretense and another count of misappropriation – both under the Criminal Code Act.

According to court documents, the complainant, Mark Roland of Packit Industrial Packaging, made agreements for the accused to buy alluvial gold in PNG and export to Australia on a monthly basis.

Police alleged that the complainant was expecting gold in return for his K800,000 investment but did not receive anything in February and March.

Tracey Tiran of Pak Island, was sentenced by the Waigani National Court today to a six- year jail term at Bomana.

A K500, 000 cheque was released from National Planning to Tiran’s company – Sits Up Services Ltd for the “Sapulau Integrated Coconut Processing” project to be set up in Manus.

The money was used between March 1, 2011 and Oct 25, 2011 however the Coconut project was not set up.

Konia Lohia, 33, from Porebada Village, was charged with three counts of misappropriation and three counts of money laundering; money belonging to the ANZ Bank.

Lohia was employed by the bank as Asset Finance Officer between May 2013 and March 2015, when he and two other bank officers invented a scheme where they falsified and processed debit vouchers through several unsuspecting accounts and credited Lohia’s accounts.

He resigned from the Bank in 2015 and in 2016, wrote to the bank admitting the fraud and promised to repay the money, which to date he hasn’t.

Investigators have found credible evidence to charge certain employees of the Lae City Council. 

Of the four, three are cashiers and one is an accountant. 

The charges laid are:

1.   A male cashier has been charged one count each on misappropriation, abuse of office and false pretence for the amount of K11,897.44.

2.  A male cashier has been charged one count of misappropriation and stealing for an amount of K20,029.62.

A young mother who breached that high level of trust without regard for the integrity of the office of a judge, was sentenced to four years in hard labour today for misappropriating more than K25,000 two years ago.   

The third arm of government is of highest integrity and cannot be shattered because the fabric of society weaves from what they do as custodians of the rule of law.