MP concerned over police conduct in arrests

By JIMMY KALEBE
MADANG Governor Peter Yama has expressed his concern with the manner in which Lae-based mobile squad police officers arrested some of his provincial government staff in Madang recently. Yama said the way police went in to arrest the Madang administration staff was as if they were pursuing dangerous criminals. “If they are high risks suspects, then police could come in such a manner and pick them up with a valid search warrant, because they are criminals,” he said.  Yama also questioned the arrests which he said was suspicious in nature and could have been politically motivated and not solely about the alleged abuse of K6 million in Manam Restoration Authority (MRA) funds. He said the MRA issue had nothing to do with the direct delivery of services to people of Manam. He said the allegations of misappropriation of MRA funds could be handled through the due diligence process and taken up by the Finance Department’s compliance division with approval from the Finance secretary to investigate. The Finance secretary would then pass on the report to police.