Manager accused of misusing trustee funds

COMRADE Trustee Services Ltd (CTSL) statutory manager Sitiveni Weleilakeba is expected to appear in the National Court in two weeks’ time for his next mention.
Weleilakeba’s lawyer upon mentioning the case before Judge Teresa Berrigan at Waigani yesterday said he had filed his client’s pre-sentence report as the court directed during the last mention.
Judge Berrigan then set the matter to Feb 27, for mention and to set a possible trial date.
Weleilakeba from Fiji was charged with dishonestly using more than K665,000 of the trustee’s funds.
His additional charges were for forgery and fraudulently uttering.
His case went through the Commital Court process and was committed to the National Court in October.
It was alleged that on December 2021, Weleilakeba, acting as the statutory manager for CTSL, directed a payment of K665,482.45 from CTSL’s management account for his personal income liability which covered the period from January to November 2021.