A representative of Mahuru electorate in the Motu Koitabu Assembly has been slapped with three charges and appeared before the Waigani District Court recently.
Veata Patana, 45 of Mahuru Village National Capital District was charged with one count of Misappropriation, one count of conspiracy to defraud under section 407 (1) (b) and one count of abuse of Office under section 92 (1) of the criminal code act.
It was alleged that the defendant conspired with Nancy Nanai (co-accused) who was then the Payroll Officer for the Motu Koita Assembly. Between 7 September 2022 and 31 January 2023, the defendant and the co-accused defrauded more than K33,000 of Public Investment Program funds belonging to the Mahuru Electorate.
The defendant applied for a personal loan of K100,000 at Moni Plus knowingly tying the loan deduction payment to his Mahuru Electoral Funds and not his personal salary.
The co-accused then assisted by authorizing the transaction by signing the loan application without approval from the Motu Koita Assembly management.
Magistrate Wawun-Kuvi said the management of MKA after sighting their Kundu Pei system, noticed the irregularities in the Mahuru Electorate PIP funds.
“They noticed that the Mahuru PIP Funds was used to repay a personal loan at Moni Plus, then they laid a formal complaint to the police for investigations,” she said.
She said the police investigation confirmed that the defendant obtained a personal loan at Moni Plus and tied the repayment to his Mahuru Electorate PIP Funds.
She said statements from the MKA also confirm that the defendant was not authorized by the management to obtain a personal loan tying it up with the PIP funds as it is illegal.
The Magistrate adjourned the matter to 19 November 2023 for the hand-up brief to be served to him.