Kila-Pat, others cleared

By SAMUEL RAITANO
THE Waigani Committal Court has dismissed a corruption case against three senior officers of the Department of Lands and Physical Planning because of insufficient evidence.
Deputy secretary Romilly Kila-Pat, deputy registrar Benjamin Samson and manager leases Simon Bendo, had been charged with conspiracy to extort property.
They were cleared of these charges last Friday.
Information against the defendants now under investigation was dismissed as well. 
Magistrate Cosmas Bidar ruled there was absolutely no evidence to prove that the trio conspired among themselves or with any other person(s) in facilitating an alleged illegal property title transfer to one Eleana Tjandranegara.
The allegations against the trio was that between January 20 and 24, Kila-Pat, in his capacity as acting secretary, gave direct instructions to Samson and Bendo to quickly process the sub-divided titles for section 387 allotment 22, 23, and an extra allotment being 24, at Hohola, Port Moresby.
It was alleged that after the state leases/titles were processed by Kila-Pat, he signed as the delegate of the minister.
The state leases were then given to Samson who signed as the registrar of titles and released the original owner’s copy of the title deeds to Tjandranegara for Patu No. 27 Ltd.
By these allegations, the trio was alleged to have conspired to extort property from TST 4 Mile Ltd.
Stephen Tan, of TST 4 Mile Ltd, the complainant in the matter, had claimed that the property under Patu No 27 belonged to TST 4-Mile Ltd because the name was thus changed.
However, in the final submissions made on Nov 10, the defendants’ lawyer, Timothy Cooper of Rageau Manua and Kikira Lawyers, argued that the state had not provided any evidence relating to the alleged charges.
Cooper pointed out that at the time of the alleged offence, his clients had not been aware of the following:
l    Patu No. 27 Ltd had changed its name to TST 4 Mile Ltd;
l    Raku No.52 Ltd had changed its name to Patu No.27 and was solely owned by Tjandranegara;
l    The changes in the companies namely Patu No.27 Ltd and Raku No. 27 Ltd occurred in 2001 and 2002 respectively;
l    The owners of TST 4-Mile Ltd had not after ceasing operation under Patu No. 27 Ltd rectified changes with the information/or proprietorship of the property subject of the court case.
In its ruling, the court said there was no evidence from the eight witnesses, statements and records of interview used by the state to prove that either all or one of the three accused had conspired with Tjandranegara or anyone to grant the lease.
Bidar said the police file was “thick,” but some documents did not comply with the rule of evidence nor qualify as evidence.
“Evidence must support that there is conspiracy. Evidence must show that the conspiracy related to extort property … there is insufficient evidence. The information against the defendants now being investigated is dismissed,” Bidar ruled.
Outside court, a relieved Kila-Pat said he was happy the court had ruled fairly