Court revokes arrest order against Schram

By Gideon Kindiwa
THE Waigani Committal Court has revoked a warrant of arrest order against former University of Technology vice-chancellor Dr Albert Schram, pictured.
Magistrate Alex Kalandi revoked the order, forfeited his bail to the State and discharged Schram, as his location was unknown.
However, Kalandi said the charges against him remained and he would be arrested whenever he set foot in Papua New Guinea.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Christian Iga said police had been searching to arrest Schram and get him to attend his case in court but were unsuccessful as he has remained overseas.
Schram was charged with falsely claiming to have attained a PhD degree from European University Institute in Florence, Italy, and earning the benefits of the vice- chancellor’s position.
On May 22 last year, the National Court reset his bail at K10,000 and allowed him to travel to his home country to collect documents to prove his innocence against a charge of false pretence laid against him.
He was ordered to return by June 11. He did not return to attend his case at the Committal Court and a warrant of arrest was issued on Nov 28.
He was supposed to obtain the original copy of his PhD and return.
His lawyer explained in court on June 14 last year that Schram was unable to return to Papua New Guinea due to medical reasons and legal requirements to obtain his documents.