Former Police Commissioner Geoffrey Vaki has been found guilty of contempt by the National Court.
Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia in a 27 page ruling convicted Vaki for wilfully refusing to execute a warrant of arrest against the Prime Minister Peter O'Neill last year.
He was found guilty today (Wednesday) for refusing to arrest O’Neill during a certain period that was not covered by an interim stay order issued by the National Court.
Sir Salamo said Vaki took a number of steps to delay the arrest including making public statements that he would not arrest the Prime Minister anytime soon until he was satisfied that the case against the Prime Minister was watertight.
This comes after the Waigani District Court on June 12, 2014 issued the warrant of arrest.
Vaki was charged with four counts of contempt.
Among the charges was that since taking office as commissioner on June 16, 2014, he deliberately took no action to provide any support for detectives from the National Fraud and Anti-Corruption Directorate to execute the warrant of arrest.
The plaintiffs in the matter are Matthew Damaru the Detective Chief Superintendent of Police and Timothy Gitua, Detective Chief Inspector from the National Fraud and Anti-Corruption Directorate.
He was also charged with allowing alternative protection of O’Neill by allowing police personnel to guard the Prime Minister contrary to the warrant of arrest being issued.
The Chief Justice in his ruling said he was satisfied that Vaki’s disobedience constituted an affront to the administration of justice.
He said his actions brought public respect for the justice system into question and disrepute and undermined the rule of law.
“The defendant’s action raised serious implications in the mind of the public that the Police Commissioner was the ultimate arbitrator of the warrant of arrest issued by the court as to whether or not it should be enforced at all and brought the District Court and its judicial process into disrepute and public embarrassment,” Sir Salamo said.