Police want CEO reinstated

By HELEN TARAWA
FORMER chief executive officer of the Popondetta General Hospital Dr Gunzee Gawin has been cleared of misappropriation and fraud charges and should be reinstated, a police officer says.
Southern Divisional Command Criminal Investigation Division (CID) officer-in-charge Chief Insp Leana Moere told The National that there was no evidence to support the charges and Popondetta District Court Magistrate Leonard Mesmin struck out the case.
Moere said the Popondetta Committal Court cleared Gawin, who was arrested on Nov 14, 2018, on allegations of misappropriation, conspiracy to defraud the state and abuse of office.
“The process in the committal court is any investigation must be completed within three months and failure to submit the hand-up brief means the court has the discretion to strike out the case,” Moere said.
“The legal term of withdrawing this case is called ‘want of prosecution’ meaning police have failed to complete the court file before the magistrate.”
Moere said the magistrate decided whether Gawin should be committed to trial.
“The committal court is only an investigation for any criminal offence to be trialled in the National Court.”
Moere said in Gawin’s case, no court file was prepared by the arresting officer and the matter went before the magistrate on Nov 14, 2018, and the whole of 2019, and this was well in excess of the three-month period allowed to prepare the hand-up brief and the magistrate struck out the case.
“I wrote the letter to hospital board recommending him to be reinstated,” he said. “It’s his right to be reinstated because it’s his right to be employed.
“Police officers are legal state servants and they have the power to arrest, to withdraw and to prosecute but failed to do the job properly and one year is too much.”