Secretary for Department of Agriculture and Livestock, Dr. Vele Pat Ila’ava, has been allowed K2,000 bail by the Waigani Committal Court following his arrest on Monday.
Dr. Ila’ava and his lawyers appeared before Deputy Chief Magistrate Dessie Magaru this afternoon during a Committal Court sitting where his application for bail was granted.
One of his two guarantors is Kerema open MP Richard Mendani. The two guarantors will ensure Dr. Ila’ava appears before court for all his mention dates.
He will return to court next month.
The 56-year-old of Viriolo village, Abau district, Central Province, was arrested and charged with 11 counts of abuse of office and 9 counts of official corruption.
The allegations date back to 2012 after Dr. Ila’ava signed a 2-year security contract with a security firm called Extreme Security Services Limited soon after he was appointed acting Secretary for DAL the same year.
He allegedly did so after terminating the security services rendered by Corporate Assets Protection Security Limited and engaged Extreme Security Services Limited, which police allege is owned by a relative.
It is alleged a total of K1,999,860.00 was paid to Extreme Security Services Ltd, which was approved by Dr Ila’ava.
It is understood the procurement of the contract was questioned in 2012 by the department’s Director of Personnel and Administration, which became subject to a previous National Court proceeding following the director’s suspension.
The National Court ruled in favour of the suspended officer and nullified the security contract however, it was further alleged that payments were still being made.
A separate complaint was later made to police which led to the issuance of an arrest warrant that was effected yesterday.
These are all allegations at this stage and police detectives from the National Fraud & Anti-Corruption Directorate will continue with their investigations to produce its investigation brief before the Committal Court to weigh out if there is enough evidence to commit it for trial in the National Court.