|
By SHEILA LASIBORI
THE Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is seeking the consent of the
Attorney-General to prosecute a senior public servant who was allegedly
caught with live bullets at a Singapore airport in July.
And this senior officer (named) has remained tight-lipped against the
allegations of breach of Civil Aviation regulations levelled against
him.
The officer speaking to The National on the condition of anonymity, at
first, refused to comment when he was asked to give his side of the
story in relation to the allegations levelled against him.
“I have no comments because I was never consulted on the matter,” he
said yesterday.
But then, he said “my understanding is that the CAA is dealing with it”,
adding that the matter was dealt with by the police and he was cleared.
The CAA, which earlier said an investigation was being conducted in
collaboration with officers from the Singapore police service based at
Changi airport, was now seeking guidance to prosecute the officer.
CAA chief executive officer Joseph Kintau yesterday said his office had
written to offices of the Police Commissioner and the Attorney-General
on the matter.
Mr Kintau said the letter to the Attorney-General, a normal procedural
requirement under the CAA Act 2000, was seeking consent from the
Attorney-General to prosecute the offender, in this case, the senior
officer.
Airport authorities in Singapore confirmed its awareness of the matter,
adding they have passed information on to the Singapore police to deal
with.
Singapore police, in fact questioned the PNG official for one hour on
July 12, before allowing him to continue his journey.
The alleged breach of CAA regulations stemmed from a July 12 incident
involving the officer, where a packet of 50 live bullets of a firearm
were found in his handbag by Singapore customs officers during a normal
security check on passengers that arrived at Changi on board an Air
Niugini flight PX 392.
 
|
