Mangape refuses to give statement in forgery case

FOUR witnesses including a Member of Parliament refused to give witness statements to the investigation officers in a case involving uttering and forgery, a police prosecutor told the Waigani Committal Court yesterday.
Prosecutor Peter Samghy, on calling Tonny Mark Ekepa’s case before senior magistrate Cosmas Bidar, revealed that Lagaip-Porgera MP Nickson Mangape and three other witnesses refused to give statements.
Ekepa was initially charged with a total of 28 counts of forgery and uttering of documents regarding royalty payments to landowners.
According to Samghy, the four witnesses intended to remain neutral in the case.
Samghy said the fifth witness could not be reached for statement but Ekepa’s lawyer Paul Mawa said the witness was dead.
Up instructions from Samghy, Bidar allowed the withdrawal of the five witnesses and struck out two counts each.
“After removing 10 counts of the initial 28 counts, there are only 18 charges remaining to be dealt with in court for Ekepa’s case,” Bidar said.
The case initially came before Magistrate Mekeo Gauli but Mawa successfully applied to have it transferred to Bidar last week.