The Supreme court has dismissed a conviction appeal filed by former Member for Lagaip-Porgera, Philip Kikala.
In handing down the decision, Justice Ere Kariko, Justice Sir Kina Bona and Justice Theresa Berrigan ruled that Kikala be remanded in custody to serve 7 years in prison.
Kikala was convicted in May 2017 for misappropriating more than K1.1 million whilst serving as MP for Lagaip-Porgera.
Kikala’s lawyer from NiuAge filed for an appeal on the basis of errors of mixed fact and law and was granted bail by the Supreme Court on May 25th 2018.
However, the court heard that Mr. Kikala and his lawyers failed to take necessary steps to progress the appeal since it was filed in November of 2017.
The court also heard that Mr. Kikala failed to appear before the Supreme Court on four occasions between February and April 2019 and failed to comply with several of the bail conditions.
“No adequate explanation has been given for the delay. It is clear that the appellant and his lawyers failed to prosecute the matter with due diligence.”
“Both failed to take any steps to progress the application for leave.”
“NiuAge lawyers did nothing at all to progress the matters after that due date.”
The Supreme Court upheld the State’s application ordering that Mr. Kikala’s cash bail of K10,000 is forfeited to the state and is ordered to seven years in jail.