Lawyer: Dismiss Somare case

By JUNIOR UKAHA
A DEFENCE lawyer on Monday told a leadership tribunal
that the case against Angoram MP Arthur Somare had been dragged on for too long by the prosecution and should be dismissed.
Ian Molloy said the prosecution was taking a long time to provide specific information regarding the allegations.
The tribunal was told that the state lawyer handling the case, Kathwa Umpake, had flown out of the capital to attend to an urgent family matter.
But public prosecutor Pondros Kaluwin said Umpake’s absence should not matter.
Kaluwin said he could take up the case himself but he preferred to wait for Umpake as he had been dealing with the case from the start.
Molloy said it had taken eight months for the prosecution to provide specific guidelines on the allegations so he could reply to the questions on the reference.
Somare was referred to the tribunal for allegations of misconduct in office including a failure to submit annual statements to the Ombudsman Commission between 1998 and 2001, failure to provide acquittals on use of funds to the Ombudsman Commission and misapplication of his district support grants.
The tribunal adjourned the case to Monday.