Man used dead man’s ID to obtain K60,000

By HEZRON KISING
THE Waigani National Court has jailed a man for four years for using a dead man’s identity to obtain more than K60,000 from a bank.
Acting judge Nicholas Miviri sentenced Joseph Ande to nine years imprisonment but deducted the time he spent in custody during his trial.
Ande had pretended to be Thomas Martin, who was dead, and raised Electoral Commission cheques for a total of K61,000 under his name which were cashed at Westpac.
The court sentenced Ande to serve one year for impersonation, six years for misappropriating K61,000 and two years for attempted to misappropriate K121,000.
Justice Miviri, however, deducted two years from the attempted misappropriation sentence and the period Ande had spent in custody, leaving him four years to serve.
Ande could further reduced his time in prison if he repayed K30,000 to the Electoral Commission before March 4 next year and would be released and put on probation if he paid another K31,000 within three years.
The court heard that Ande falsely presented himself as Martin, using Martin’s driver’s licence, and opened an account with Westpac. He deposited two Electoral Commission cheques for K41,000 and K20,000 into that account between 2015 and 2017 and made withdrawals for his own use.
He later opened an unlimited account, again in Martin’s name, and deposited a cheque for K121,000 from the commission. But he could not withdraw the money when the bank discovered the fraud.