Rimua guilty of contempt for failing to pay

PETROLEUM and Energy secretary Rendel Rimua was found guilty of contempt by the National Court in Port Moresby last Thursday for disobeying court orders to pay entitlements due to a former officer.
In determining whether Rimua was guilty of contempt, Justice David Cannings said in his ruling that the court must be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt because the charges were criminal in nature.
He said for the contemnor to be found guilty of this sort of disobedience, the court must satisfy with the three elements of the offence, which were:
l    The court order was clear;
l    The court order was properly served; and
l    There was a deliberate failure to comply by the alleged contemnor.
Cannings found that all the three elements were established and proven beyond reasonable doubt.
He added that Rimua’s conduct amounted to a deliberate failure to comply with the court order.
He ordered that the case against Rimua should proceed to punishment and would be determined by the court after a separate hearing at a date to
be set.
Cannings said Rimua would remain on bail on the conditions fixed by the court and he reserved the question on the costs of the proceedings.
John Siune, now a field liaison officer at Moro, Southern Highlands, was a former officer of the department of Petroleum and Energy.
He was dismissed from the public service by Rimua after finding him guilty of a disciplinary offence regarding unauthorised use of a department vehicle in 2007.
“Siune sought review of his dismissal with the public services commission which inquired into the matter and ruled in his favour on the ground that the disciplinary charges were defective and the plaintiff had been denied natural justice,” Cannings said.
“The PSC on July 7, 2010 ruled that the plaintiff’s dismissal be annulled and he was to be reinstated and paid all lost salaries and entitlements.
“But Rimua failed to comply with the PSC decision and it was his failure to comply which became the subject of the judicial review.”
Cannings said the judicial review by the plaintiff was a result of non-compliance of two separate National Court orders, which Justice George Manuhu made on Dec 22, 2011 and May 23, 2012, ordering the defendants, Rimua and state to reinstate Siune and pay his lost salaries and entitlements within a two-day period but were not complied with.
The court noted that, instead Rimua paid the plaintiff in two separate installments, the first on June 1, 2012 a sum of K57,150.51 and the second on June 22, 2012 a sum of K71,850.31, totalling K129,000.82.
But the plaintiff claimed the department still owed him K243,903.04 comprising his special domestic market allowance, incidentals allowances and other benefits which he was entitled to.