Western Province

Abini Gesele 46, of Ali village, Balimo in the South Fly District of Western Province was arrested by the National Fraud and Anti-Corruption directorate.

Gesele is the Deputy Provincial Governor of the Western Province.

He is expected to appear in court where his charge will be read and explained to him while police work towards preparing a hand up brief to serve to his lawyers.

He was charged with one count of False Assumption of Authority under section 96(c)(ii) of the Criminal Code Act, chapter 262.

Edmond Gami, a staffer with the Governors Office, and Paiyo Bale, a community leader have called on Kali to fast track a National Executive Council (NEC) decision to appoint Ronald Dmonai as the Acting Provincial Administrator to run the Provinces affairs.

Speaking to Loop PNG following the signing, Gesele said he was happy to sign on behalf of the province to finally have a commercial interest in the PNG LNG Project.

He said timing was of the essence after seeing the four provincial governments of Southern Highlands, Hela, Gulf and Central, sign their agreements last month.

“I sought advice from the legal authorities and they told me that because of the urgency, I had to sign on behalf of Western province,” he said.

Justice Martin Ipang delivered the sentence just before 3pm today.

The three were convicted on July 26 for misappropriating over K7m. They were also found guilty for conspiring to defraud the state of K7,060,000.

For misappropriating K7,060,000, Justice Ipang sentenced them to 25 years in prison. However, due to restitution of K373,971.68 being paid, the court suspended 15 years, leaving them to serve a remaining term of 10 years.

For their part in conspiring to defraud the state of K7,060,000, they were sentenced to 4 years.

In a statement, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill says: “To the Late Member’s family, and the people of South Fly, I offer on behalf of our Government, our party and our people, our condolences and sympathies.

“The Leader, as a Member of this Honourable House, served with great distinction and great honour.

“The death of a sitting Member is always a very sad occasion for the Parliament.

“Today we lost a colleague and a friend.”

The male victim, believed to be from Tabubil, Western Province was tragically hit by a route 16 PMV bus when he was crossing the road to the nearby bus stop opposite where he lives.

According to an eye witness Ato Hengepe, the man looked as if he had a knee problem and was struggling to cross the road quickly when he met his fate.

The three and their lawyers returned to the Waigani National Court today for submissions on their sentencing to be done however, that was further adjourned to next Monday, Sept 26.

It was further adjourned to give time to their lawyers to make submissions on the appropriate sentence based on the probation office’s pre-sentence reports.

They remain on an extended bail of K10,000 till Monday when they return before Justice Martin Ipang.

Eye operations were also performed on an additional 38 patients in Tabubil and 58 patients in Kiunga.

Elsie Newei, 51, from Kopiago in Hela Province and Ruth Eki, 47, of Olsobip Vil¬lage in North Fly, Western Province were very thankful to the visiting eye care team for restoring their sight. 

Speaking today at the official launching of projects in Kiunga,Ganasi said the allocation of shares now confirms who the real landowners of the mine are.

"The people of Western Province can now benefit more meaningfully in a fair way," he said.

Ganasi added that apart from Ok Tedi, Western Province is also rich in forest products, inland fishery, eco tourism, oil and gas fields and will continue to contribute to the country's coffers.

He said it was about time the people of Western Province enjoyed the benefits after being spectators in the past 40 years.

On a bright Sunday morning, Kiunga and Mepu churches came together, with congregation numbers reaching well over one hundred, bringing along bush knives, rakes, wheel barrows, brush cutters, forks and spades.

The church goers cleaned up by cutting grass, pruned and planted flowers, cleaned and dug blocked drains and also disposed of hospital rubbish.

Kiunga SDA church elder Mark Gena, who was in charge of the clean-up and also works at the hospital, said the churches decided to do something different for the hospital.