Councillor claims misuse of funds in Kopiago office

A COUNCILLOR in the Kopiago local level government in Southern Highlands suspects public funds have been misused and wants an immediate investigation into the local government’s operational account.
James Mone, who is from the Hagini ward, fears that some councillors might have collaborated with officers at the LLG office to misappropriate the funds.
He said about K745,000 in grants from the national government, provincial government, Hela Transitional Authority and the joint district planning and budget priorities committee for many projects had been misused.
He said the K745,000 came from various authorities between 2008 and last year.
Mone, who claimed to speak on behalf of most of the 17 Kopiago councillors, said they had no say in how the funds were used.
Only a few held secret meetings to decide, he said.
As a result, he said, 35,000 people in the Kopiago LLG were missing out on basic goods and services.
He called on provincial administrator  Lawrence Olkeben to investigate.
Mone said councillors raised the matter with former administrator last year, who then, authorised the bank to suspend the trust account but it was not done.