Tribunal asked to drop charges against Somare

By ADRIAN MATHIAS
THE public prosecutor has asked a leadership tribunal not to impose penalties on former Angoram MP Arthur Somare who admitted to charges of breaching the Leadership Code.
Somare had last month pleaded guilty to three counts of failing to return on time his annual statements to the Ombudsman Commission in 1999, 2000 and 2001.
Eight other charges against Somare, who failed in a bid for a fourth successive term in parliament in this year’s elections, were dropped on Tuesday.
Public prosecutor Pondros Kaluwin said the three allegations that the leader admitted were charges based on the Leadership Code and not misuse of funds.
“Penalties would not be proper as Somare has lost his parliamentary seat,” he said in his submission on penalties to the tribunal sitting yesterday.
Somare said after the hearing he failed to retain his parliamentary seat in this year’s elections because the allegations were part of a sustained campaign to discredit him.
The allegations of misappropriation and failure to comply with directions from the Ombudsman Commission had dogged him for seven years, he said.
“In fact, the evidence presented by the public prosecutor and the Ombudsman Commission confirmed that there was no misappropriation or failure to comply with directions by the Ombudsman Commission.
 “It was a sustained attack over seven years based on frivolous and vexatious charges,” he said.
Somare’s lawyer Goiye Gileng said his client had suffered the ultimate penalty of not being returned to office after he lost his seat.
The prosecutions and ombudsman did not have the evidence to prosecute the case.
Gileng told the tribunal that because Somare had been attending his tribunal cases, his elections campaigning had been disrupted. The tribunal sits today for diliberations.