State: MP must account for K2.7m

By ADRIAN MATHIAS
A LEADERSHIP tribunal sitting in Port Moresby has been asked to make Bougainville regional MP Fidelis Semoso accountable for misusing K2.7 million South Bougainville feeder road project funds.
The tribunal had also last week found Semoso guilty of charges relating to sexual assault and torture of a woman.
State lawyer assisting the tribunal, Anthony Kupmain, in his submissions on penalties last Friday said the tribunal’s decision on penalties must help or protect the people of PNG and Bougainville from bad leaders.
He said the tribunal had found serious culpability on the part of Semoso.
“Leaders should be held accountable for misusing substantial amounts of money.”
Kupmain added that quite a number of criminal laws had been breached.
“If a criminal law is breached, it raises the culpability aspect of a leader,” Kupmain said.
Semoso’s lawyer, Charles Mende, said his client’s conduct was mitigated by the peace cere­mony between the Poran and Malasan clans of Bougainville that was presided over by their chiefs.
Mende said the ceremony was a true Melanesian and a Bougainvillean way of resolving issues and conflicts.
But Kupmain said the peace ce­remony should not be considered as a mitigating factor or a factor reducing the seriousness of the offence committed.
The tribunal is expected to announce its ruling today.