Lawyer not guilty of defaming fraud officer, court rules

THE NATIONAL Court on Friday ruled that a lawyer was not guilty of publishing defamatory comments about a policeman.
National Court judge Panuel Mogish gave the verdict after reviewing the facts including statements from witnesses and the accused Laken Aigilo.
Aigilo is alleged to have posted comments that damaged the reputation of a fraud squad officer.
The alleged defamatory comments were part of a post made on Facebook to get the attention of then police minister Bryan Kramer on July 7, 2019.
Mogish said the accused had written the post as a letter to Kramer requesting his assistance to prevent policeman Derrick Tangua from evicting Lynette Tumu and her children from a property which was subject to court proceedings and investigations by the Fraud and Anti-Corruption Directorate.
Aigilo deleted his post as soon as Kramer had responded.
“The accused used the word ‘bribery’ to have maximum effect,” Mogish said of the post.
“It was a poor choice of words but it attracted the attention of the minister and commissioner.”
He said the accused’s client (Tumu) was facing threat of eviction by Tangua at the time.
Mogish added that Tangua acted unprofessionally outside his duties when he threatened eviction.
It was alleged that on July 3, 2019, Tangua served investigation files on Tumu at the Port Moresby District Court, telling her to vacate the property she was living at or she would be evicted.
He went to the property on the same day with police officers and issued “threats of eviction.”
Mogish said the Aigilo had said in his post that he was “compelled to believe” that Tangua was being bribed. He found Aigilo not guilty of defamation pursuant to the Cybercrime Act.