Man jailed for misappropriation

THE National Court found a man guilty of misappropriating more than K618,000 belonging to Book Bilong Pikinini (BBP).
He has been taken into custody at Bomana prison outside Port Moresby to await a decision on his sentence on Friday.
After hearing submission on sentence, Judge Nicholas Miviri on Friday ordered that Bradley Tuvi of Kokopo’s Ralame village in East New Britain be taken to Bomana.
The State in its submission asked the court to sentence Tuvi to six years as the offence involved large sums money and committed over some time.
The State lawyer said the offence of misappropriation had become prevalent and therefore a strong sentence was necessary to deter other people from committing the same in the future.
The State further submitted that public perception in terms of deterrence in committing such crime involving a breach of trust was essential.
A lawyer from the office of public solicitor representing Tuvi argued that the court should sentence him to three years in prison.
Tuvi’s lawyer said he was a first time offender and also had pleaded guilty.
Court had learnt that Tuvi between Jan 1, 2017 and April 6, 2018 when employed as the finance and payroll officer for BBP arranged for 71 unauthorised cheques to various bank accounts.
The total of the 71 cheques was K618,398.09.
The unauthorised cheques were cleared and Tuvi received K133,189.07 which consist of 21 cheques and two transfers from a company.
These payments were done without the approval of the authorised signatories of BBP and the various accounts that received them were never supposed to receive it.