NFACD director Matthew Damaru

Detectives from the National Fraud and Anti-Corruption Directorate (NFACD) apprehended them in Mt Hagen.

In a statement, Director Matthew Damaru said the former public servants were each arrested for one count of abuse of office, one count of conspiracy, one count of official corruption and one count of misappropriation.

“It was reported to the police at NFACD, by the Department of Finance, that more than K1.3 million was misappropriated by treasury officers from Mt Hagen,” said Damaru.

This comes after the court on Aug 16 agreed with an earlier Supreme Court decision that two parties in the respective cases require the approval of the Attorney General to engage private lawyers to represent them.

The cases are SCA 7/2016, an appeal that originates from OS JR 485 of 2014, the judicial review into the PM’s arrest warrant issue and the case involving the former Police Commissioner, Geoffrey Vaki, challenging his conviction and sentencing last year for contempt of court.

The head of the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary’s Crimes Division, Assistant Commissioner Victor Isouve, was speaking in regard to statements made by fraud director Matthew Damaru.

During a press conference on Thursday, Damaru questioned the legitimacy of the vetting process.

“The process of initiating the criminal justice process is now encumbered by an unusual vetting committee,” the fraud director told the media.

The head of the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary’s Crimes Division, Assistant Commissioner Victor Isouve, says Matthew Damaru was quoted as saying cases initiated by the NFACD required the unwavering commitment of the police prosecutor to prosecute the state’s case.

“In the article, Damaru said criminal cases struck out by the courts were on technical grounds and not on their merits,” said the ACP.