Landowner in court for misuse

Former chairman of a landowner group in Hela appeared in the Waigani Committal Court on Tuesday charged with misappropriation.
John Wakape, from Kopiago, was alleged to have misused more than K6 million of land royalties of the Awe-Embe Incorporation Landowner Group (AEILG).
Magistrate Cosmos Bidar told Wakape that complaints against him were just allegations and had to be proven.
Bidar said the case involved a large sum of money and evidence from bank payments and documentations had to be provided.
“Police will have to investigate and provide records of payments,” Bidar said.
It was alleged that between 2014 and 2015, Wakape, as chairman of AEILG, used K6,842,300 for his own purposes without the knowledge of other members of AEILG.
The money was paid by the government as landowner royalty to AEILG.
Wakape had appeared from custody and his lawyer applied for bail.
Bidar granted him bail for K5000 bail with conditions –  that he not interfere with witnesses, remained in NCD and attended court on dates set by the court until the case was dealt with.