Court clears Sia of allegations

By ZACHERY PER
GOROKA businessman and Bintangor Lahanis rugby league team owner Simon Sia was cleared of misappropriating K5.9 million and money-laundering charges by the Goroka Committal Court yesterday.
An elated Sia described the dismissal of his charges as “true justice prevails and natural justice has been served”. Sia, who has been a longtime philanthropist and businessman in Eastern Highlands, was alleged to have moved K5.9 million from the Konkua Coffee Development Corporation (KCDC) to Bintangor Trading and Gold Bell Construction to procure material for a coffee factory building and chemicals for coffee cultivation in 2012.
Upon a complaint lodged by members of the KCDC, police arrested Sia on July 8 at the Jackson Airport in Port Moresby. Magistrate Gerard Vetunawa dismissed the charges for lack of evidence.
He said the deal was secured by former Kainantu MP, the late Sailon Beseo, for coffee project with KCDC to rehabilitate their coffee trees. Vetunawa said the money did not belong to the directors of Konkua corporation, but to the State.
“Sia as a service provider was engaged to procure chemicals and material for Konkua Coffee Development Corporation.
“If there are any complaints he (Sia) should have been called in as State witness only,” Vatunawa said.
He told the directors that they wanted to use Sia as meat in the sandwich by laying unnecessary allegations against him.
“You should have laid the complaint while former MP Sailon Beseo was alive. “Your action after he passed away is a deliberate witchhunt.
“I dismiss the case for lack of evidence, his K5,000 bail be refunded.”
The court also noted that the same matter was dealt with by the National Court in a civil proceeding in 2017 when the court found that KCDC was a paper company with no legal standing in doing business under business laws and dismissed the case.