Misappropriation

He will return to court on May 14 where submissions will be made on his sentence.

Kevin Unobo, 49 years of age from Gebea village, Central Province, was convicted on Friday for dishonestly applying to his own use a Toyota Land Cruiser, the property of the Central Provincial Government.

He was the liaison officer between the Central Provincial Administration and office of the (former) Governor Alphonse Moroi, in purchasing nine vehicles worth K900,000 for Central police to use in security operations for the 2012 General Elections.

Blaze Mara of Kapo village underwent trial in the National Court on allegations he misappropriated a total of K546, 005.63 – monies belonging to Population Service International.

He was employed with the NGO when he allegedly misappropriated the monies between 28 February 2014 and 6 August 2014 in Port Moresby.

The trial at the Waigani National Court saw the state call in its witnesses against Mara.

Andrick Yangro and Joan Kalama were convicted for misappropriating a total of K138,226.10 between the months of May and July in 2016.

Yangro was caretaker administration officer while Kalama was Chairperson of the board.

They were appointed on the interim board following the suspension of PNGTA l General Secretary Ugwalubu Mowana.  

The National Court reinstated Mowana on 21 July 2016.

That evening, around 7pm, Yangro got the payroll officer and took them to the PNGTA office to process payroll for the staff, an amount of K98,000.

His admittance follows interim orders that were issued by the Waigani National Court on 23 February by Human Rights judge, Justice David Cannings.

The interim order allowed for urgent medical attention to be given for his “deteriorating medical conditions”. 

Wartoto, who was sentenced on 23 June 2017, was in hospital from March 2017 to 10 January 2018 when he was taken back to Bomana without being formally discharged.

He was among those prisoners who were removed from the hospital on 10 January on orders from the Correctional Service Commissioner, Michael Waipo.

On 2 February 2018 in NCD, detectives from the National Fraud & Anti-Corruption Directorate arrested and charged Luke Damu, from Wowobo village, Kikori District.

He has been charged with:

Solomon Junt Warur has appeared in the Waigani Committal court where the allegations against him were read and explained to him in court.

He is in court over allegations he misappropriated a total of K875, 301.90 over a period of five years. He was charged with 67 counts of misappropriation and 67 counts of obtaining monies by false pretense.

Magistrate Cosmas Bidar said the allegations are not from a one off incident but 67 instances that took place between 2 July 2010 and 11 May 2015 in Port Moresby.

It was alleged that the accused, Sam Vegego, has been misappropriating money from the Oro Provincial Administration office.

Police report that this incident has been taking place since January of this year.

In total, Vegego has misappropriated K168,785 from the Provincial Administration Office and diverted it to his own personal use.

The matter has been referred to Criminal Investigation Division for further investigation to take place.

The three filed separate applications that will be asking the court to reopen their appeal and revisit it, alleging a slip, or error, was made by a three-man Supreme Court bench on April 27.

The slip rule application was filed after the Supreme Court, on April 17, dismissed their appeal against conviction and sentence.

The case came for directions on Friday, where their lawyer indicated they were ready for the hearing.

The 8-year sentence was added onto that 5 year sentence by the Waigani National Court on Monday.

David Kumalau Pondros was sentenced to an additional 8 years yesterday for misappropriating K5.3 million, funds that were meant for a Coconut Integration Facility project to be built in the Tol area of the Pomio District in East New Britain, between 2008 and 2010.

John Morgan Selan, an engineer, is the Managing Director of Manus Earthmoving Ltd. His company was awarded a contract to do maintenance work on two feeder roads at the Wosera/Gawi District valued at K1 million in 2013.

Deputy Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika conducted a trial in his case and after examining evidence before the court, he found Selan not guilty to all three charges.