Sambua urged to stay out of the leadership tribunal

ACTING public prosecutor Camillus Sambua should refrain from prosecuting Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare when the leadership tribunal hearing commences next Thursday, opposition leader Sir Mekere Morauta said.
Sir Mekere said yesterday that this was because Sambua come from Angoram, East Sepik, and was also Sir Michael’s nephew.
He said that any involvement of Sambua in the tribunal hearing would be perceived as compromising the state’s position.
“It is fair and in public interest that Sambua is not involved in the whole process. He is closely related to Sir Michael,” the former prime minister said in a statement.
Sir Mekere also urged senior lawyers in the public prosecutor’s office to ensure that all material evidences submitted by the Ombudsman Commission were not interfered with or destroyed.
“All evidences must be safe guarded at all cost. No evidence must be compromised or amended,” he said.
Sir Mekere said that if the prime minister had any public conscience, he should not have appointed a relative through the Attorney-General Sir Arnold Amet.
Sir Mekere said: “It is nepotism in its most naked form and the public should not put up with such nonsense. It is public knowledge that Sir Michael used Sir Arnold to appoint his relative to put up road blocks in the prosecution process.
“Sambua was appointed under the prime minister’s instruction, simply to frustrate the whole process.
“There is no other reason. The whole nation knows the real motive for removing Jim Wala Tamate.
“He fearlessly took a courageous and decisive stand to refer Sir Michael to a leadership tribunal.”