Director to stand trial over fraud

By VANESSA NIKEN
A COMPANY director will stand trial on charges of misappropriating more than K290,000 belonging to a state agency.
Magistrate Paul Puri Nii in the Waigani Committal Court committed Junior Otto Tean yesterday to stand trial in the National Court for his involvement in the fraudulent procurement and misappropriation of National Fisheries Authority (NFA) funds totaling K292,277.60.
Magistrate Nii said Tean, 35, would be tried on two counts of dishonest application after the defence lawyer did not to make a submission.
Tean from Naiama village, Namatanai in New Ireland, is the director of Styled Saweman Enterprise Ltd.
Nii said Tean had been charged under Section 383A (1) (a) of the Criminal Code Act.
According to the police, NFA managing director John Edward Kasu filed a complaint with police on May 13, 2020, alleging misappropriation of NFA funds between January and July 2020.
Kasu made the complaint after an internal audit established that five claims (requisitions) of varying amounts were paid to certain companies under suspicious circumstances.
The audit report revealed that five claims were raised by a Elias Tuvi and paid to two companies Styled Saweman Enterprise Ltd and Wally’s Construction and Maintenance with documents bearing the forged signature of former fisheries minister Dr Lino Tom on several occasions and paid to these companies.
It is alleged that the companies never delivered the projects they were paid to carry out.
A police investigation established that Tuvi was a former NFA employee and had fraudulently raised the claims by forging Tom’s signature.
Kasu confirmed that he had approved all the claims thinking that they were genuine as they had all came from the minister’s office.