Education official sent to jail for four years

A FORMER teacher who later became a senior officer with the Education Department in Port Moresby was sentenced to four years imprisonment for misappropriating more than K87,000.
Waigani National Court judge Teresa Berrigan jailed Willie Mamata Dumo last week in Port Moresby for misappropriating K87,731 belonging to the department.
He was manager of operations of the E-Learning section when he committed the offence in May last year. The court took into consideration mitigating factors that Dumo was a first-time offender and had a good character.
He was a teacher for some years and a valued and trusted member of the Education Department, with 18 years of service. Dumo, 39, has two wives and seven children – all under 18 years old.
He is from Imbunatou village in Rigo district, Central and lived at Kilakila in the National Capital District with his first wife and three children. His second wife and their four children are with the wife’s relatives.
The court also took into account that the prisoner express his regrets and apologised for what he had done which the court accepted as genuine.
He cooperated with police during investigation and admitted committing the offence which saved the State and court costs and inconvenience of a trial.
The court told Dumo that two years of his sentence would be suspended if he repaid the money within 18 months.
It was alleged that on May 4, 2017 the Education Department paid a travel agency K97,590.84 to hire a helicopter to transport staff to the Ialibu-Pangia district in Southern Highlands for the launching of a project called EQUITV (enhancing quality in teaching through TV programme).
The project was to enhance the quality of teaching through television in 30 schools in the province. However, the launch of the project did not go ahead because of the general elections.
The travel agency refunded the money after removing its administrative fee of K9859.84.
The refund of K87,731 was paid as a cash cheque, payable to Dumo instead of the department. Dumo used the money.