HOW JUDICIAL MOCKERY OF "INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY" HAS MADE THE STATEMENT MEANINGLESS

by JACKSON RUNDUWALI

The Jimmy Maladina court case was the nail in the coffin for taking seriously the statement that accused people must be considered "innocent until proven guilty".   The PNG courts themselves have managed to make such a mockery of the statement that it holds no meaning and is more likely to evoke laughter.

These days the PNG court system at the district level is hopelessly corrupt, with way too many judges being available for a price or inviting the accused to a "private dinner" to discuss their case.  Unfortunately, the filth extends up to the National Court, and it is National Court judges who are selected to serve on Supreme Court sittings.  What happened in the case of Jimmy Maladina is a clear an example of how our courts serve the rich and powerful as you will ever hope to find.

The Commission of Inquiry on the National Provident Fund (NPF) scandal was chaired by retired judge Tos Barnett, a respected member of the judiciary.

The COI NPF report contained volumes of records and photocopies of financial transactions to back up the allegations contained in the report.  The report was so comprehensive that all a State Prosecutor needed to do was follow the report when prosecuting each of the people named in the report as breaking the law.    

When Jimmy Maladina knew he likely to be recommended for prosecution in COI report in 1999, he escaped PNG to Australia and lived there for 2 years.  The PNG government never requested extradition.  Maladina only returned after a prolonged, nationwide "Jimmy Come Home" shame game organised by the Post Courier.

Jimmy's case started around 2004 and went on for more than a decade.  On and on and on.

In 2015 his case became active again in National Court.  At that court he was found guilty of the charges.  Jimmy  himself then confessed to those charges.  He expressed remorse in court.  He offered to pay restitution to the State for the over K2 million embezzled from NPF.  Admission of guilt!   Black and white!  Clear as day!  No innocent person would offer to pay K2 million restitution for money supposedly embezzeled.

Despite this admission of guilt, in 2016 the Supreme Court squashed the case and found Jimmy Maladina not guilty because of technical reasons.   Only in PNG would it be possible for the accused to make a confession complete with an offer to repay over K2 million in embezzeled money, then be completely let off the hook and be declared innocent!!!!!!!!!

A completely separate NPF scandal that involved Jimmy Maladina involved Maladina, in consultation with Herman Leahy and Henry Fabila, hiring a registered valuer by the name of Lori Veraga at an excessive fee.  The court verified the evidence documents presented in court that Veraga received 2 cheques for his services, immediately turned around and paid 50% of the amount to Jimmy Maladina (a clear kickback corruption scam).  

Thus, although Jimmy Maladina was not being tried in that particular court case (just as Michael Somare was not being tried in the recent kickback case heard in Singapore, in which Somare received kickback monies into his Singapore bank account), Maladina was proven to be accomplice to the scam by the evidence accepted in court.

Lori Veraga was convicted of his role in the kickback scam and served 6 years at hard labour.

The exact same evidence used to convict Veraga could have been used to prosecute and convict Maladina.   It was never used.  Maladina was never prosecuted for this second fraud.
 
"Innocent until proven guilty"?  That only makes sense when the court system is fair and just.  When ithe courts can be manipulated and corrupted to protect the rich and powerful, "innocent until proven guilty" carries no weight at all.   In Papua New Guinea, it is meaningless.   Totally corrupt and massively guilty top shots are getting off despite clear evidence and being declared innocent by the PNG courts.  This is a miscarriage of justice that makes the entire PNG court system a mockery and adds further evidence to the notion that PNG has become a laughable banana republic with levels of corruption that compete against the most corrupt nations of earth.  

The most laughable part of the whole Jimmy Maladina episode is the idea that now that Jimmy "I admit I committed the crime" Maladina was declared innocent by the Supreme Court, he no longer has to repay the over K2 million that he stole and since Jimmy Maladina was found innocent of his involvement in this NPF embezzlement that Peter O'Neill was alleged to be a part of, that means Peter O'Neill, being "innocent until proven guilty too", can now be declared officially innocent of all wrongdoing in the NPF scandal.

What a laugh.  Indeed, LMAO.  Hysterically.

SEVERAL SUPPLEMENTARY DOCUMENTS NOW FOLLOW

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AN ARTICLE REPORTING ON THE 2015 COURT CASE THAT FOUND MALADINA GUILTY

Maladina found guilty

The National, Friday May 22nd, 2015
 By CHARLES MOI

FORMER National Provident Fund (now Nasfund) boss Jimmy Maladina has been convicted of misusing K2.65 million belonging to the Fund.
Deputy Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika, who handed down the ruling in Waigani yesterday, said the K2.65 million was “extra money calculated to defraud NPF”.

“To me this was a case of money laundering,” Sir Gibbs told a packed court room.

“Dirty money paid through a front to make it look clean on a large scale. There is no dispute that part of the K2.65 million was paid to Jimmy Maladina from those payments to Kumagai.”

Kumagai Gumi Limited was engaged by the fund to build the NPF Tower (now Deloitte Tower) in Port Moresby.

Sir Gibbs said Maladina was not charged with money laundering under the Proceeds of Crime Act because that legislation came into existence later.
Maladina faced two charges. One was that between November 1, 1998, and October 11, 2000, he conspired with others to defraud the fund’s board of trustees of K2.65m by fraudulently increasing the construction costs of the NPF Tower on Douglas Street in Port Moresby.

The second count was that between February 26, 1999, and July 30, 1999, in Port Moresby, he dishonestly applied to his own use and the use of others K2.65m which belonged to the fund’s board of trustees. The court drew from circumstantial evidence to convict Maladina of the conspiracy-related charge.
It used the objective and subjective test to find Maladina guilty of misappropriating K2.65m, taking into consideration factors which included his experience as a lawyer.

Maladina, from Mena’ala village in Esa’ala, Milne Bay, is out on extended bail.
Lawyers will make submissions on sentence on June 4.
The State alleged that Maladina conspired with others to defraud the NPF Board of trustees of K2.65 million by fraudulently increasing the cost of the NPF tower project.

Kumagai was engaged by NPF to construct the tower at a cost of K50 million on Douglas Street in Port Moresby. Maladina, who became the fund’s board chairman in early 1999, conspired with others to charge extra fees in the sum of K2.65m termed as “further acceleration fees” on top of the K50 million.
Maladina’s lawyer John Griffin QC said his client had exercised his right to remain silent and not to give evidence during the trial.

Griffin said the State did not show how the fraud was played out at NPF as nobody had testified on it.

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HERE ARE THE 2 ARTICLES FROM PNGEXPOSED BLOGS THAT DISCUSSES THE MALADINA CASE.  ONCE AGAIN, PNGEXPOSED PRODUCES EXCELLENT JOURNALISTIC REPORTING THAT OUR PNG NEWSPAPERS PROBABLY WON'T MATCH IN A HUNDRED YEARS:  

Jimmy Maladina acquitted??? Spare a thought for his partner in crime
April 21, 2016

The Supreme Court it appears has quashed Jimmy Maladina’s conviction for misappropriation, which emerged out of  the National Provident Fund inquiry. We are told Maladina is away on business, but will hold a press conference shortly.

No doubt Mr Maladina will claim full vindication, and protest his innocence. But don’t get the tissues out just yet for Jimmy. In fact spare a thought for one of his conspirators, who does not appear to have the same luck as Jimmy Maladina when it comes to the courts.

Iori Veraga was found guilty of misappropriation and conspiracy in 2005, for his part in the fraud Maladina is alleged to have masterminded. According to the National Court Mr Veraga was a registered valuer, who was recruited by Jimmy Maladina to provide services to the National Provident Fund at a grossly inflated price. The proceeds of the scam were then shared between the two.

The court accepted:
‘the State evidence, once again confirmed by the accused’s own evidence that 50% of the proceeds of each of these cheques went to Maladina as his share of the fees as agreed between them’.

The National Court also claimed it was:
‘satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that before Maladina’s meeting with the accused, there had been an agreement with … [NPF executives] Herman Leahy and Henry Fabila about this criminal enterprise. These two officers were to be the conduits for the successful prosecution of the conspiratorial agreement. The events which took place throughout the entire affair did not, in my opinion, take place by accident. There was here the hallmark of preconcert.
These events occurred pursuant to a pre-existing, antecedent, agreement’.

‘The conspiracy also depended on the accused performing his part by over-pricing or exaggerating the values of the two properties and charging excessive fees to be shared with Jimmy Maladina. The fees had to be large enough to be worth sharing. Messrs Leahy and Fabila were important elements, conduits, in the conspiracy. They were in the position to ensure secrecy, non-compliance with tendering requirements, keep the [NPF] Board in the dark, and ensure further that the fees quoted were accepted, thus committing the Fund to paying them, and paying them quickly.’

The National Court, therefore, concluded:
‘the funds [misappropriated by Veraga and Maladina] were the funds of the NPF. They remained the property of the Fund because neither the accused nor Jimmy Maladina had any legitimate claim over them. Thus, the sharing of the fees between the accused and Jimmy Maladina constituted the dishonest application to his own use and to the use of another person, property belonging to another as defined [by the Criminal Code].’

Veraga was sentenced to six years hard labour. Curiously Maladina – the alleged mastermind – was never successfully prosecuted for this crime.

Instead his recently quashed conviction related to yet another act of misappropriation against the National Provident Fund.

So when you hear Jimmy Maladina waltz around the media claiming he is the true victim in all this, spare a thought for his partner in crime, Mr Veraga, who spent six years inside for a crime Mr Maladina was allegedly the primary author of.

https://pngexposed.wordpress.com/2016/04/21/jimmy-maladina-acquitted-spare-a-thought-for-his-partner-in-crime/

Supreme Court quashes Maladina conviction! But your Honor, Jimmy confessed.
April 22, 2016

Was Jimmy’s appeal more about the Prime Minister than Maladina himself?

In most countries when a powerful national figure confesses to their crimes, expresses remorse, and offers to pay back the stolen money, it is often considered a fairly clear sign they are guilty.

Not in our country.

PNG Exposed reported yesterday that Jimmy Maladina’s conviction for misappropriation was recently quashed by the Supreme Court.

Yet it has gone unnoted in the media coverage, that Maladina actually confessed to the crime during the earlier National Court trial.

This was confirmed when the National Court passed sentence:
“The accused admitted freely that he had committed the offence. He stated that he is sorry for what he did. He further apologises and is remorseful especially to the contributors of NPF for what he had done that deprived them of their benefits which was to be enjoyed with their families and to his family for the sufferings, shame that he has brought on them for the last 17 years. He is making arrangements and is willing to repay the money owed back to the state”.

It was also noted in yesterday’s blog that Maladina had never been successfully prosecuted for his role in separate fraud involving Iori Veraga. In that instance Veraga was sentenced to six years hard labour, while the alleged mastermind behind the operation Jimmy Maladina escaped the charges.

Clearly Jimmy is a lucky fellow.

But the question remains why would Maladina confess to a crime, and then petition a higher court to quash the conviction?

A possible answer is provided by the Australian commentator Susan Merrell, who is a close ally of the PM’s clique. She remarked in the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision: ‘So, if Jimmy Maladina is innocent of misappropriation and the accusation against the Prime Minister is that he received monies from Maladina that Maladina had misappropriated in this matter, (NPF) then it stands to reason that this exonerates the Prime Minister of any accusations of impropriety’.

So, perhaps this appeal was less about Jimmy Maladina and more about Prime Minister O’Neill.

Those familiar with elite business circles know Jimmy Maladina and Peter O’Neill were for a significant period married at the hip in their affairs. As a result, when those involved in Maladina’s schemes were successfully convicted in two separate criminal prosecutions, a certain bad smell clung to the PM, especially given that O’Neill featured heavily in the NPF inquiry findings (but don’t expect to find a copy of the NPF inquiry report anywhere, conveniently it was never made public!).

Indeed, when Jimmy Maladina fled to Australia in 1999/2000, he informed the Australian courts that he ‘was fearful of violence at the hands of persons who suspected that he might be in a position to make serious allegations against them’. It was never specified who these ‘persons’ were.

This Supreme Court decision it would seem is just as beneficial for the PM as it is for Maladina, at least if we follow the perverted logic of the PM’s cheer squad.

Sadly, all of this comes as public confidence in the integrity of the judiciary is dropping.

It is increasingly apparent that the judiciary is not immune to the disease of corruption – in fact there is a growing body of evidence and inside information that some judges are accepting bribes, to return favorable judgements. Of course, no one has suggested, despite the strange occurrences noted above, that either Mr Maladina or Mr O’Neill bribed/pressured the judiciary.

Yet the growing inconsistent and at times illogical decisions being delivered by the courts, will fuel speculation and concern.

https://pngexposed.wordpress.com/2016/04/22/supreme-court-quashes-maladina-conviction-but-your-honor-jimmy-confessed/

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HARVEY MALADINA SPILLT THE BEANS ON HIDDEN VIDEO CAMERA AS TO HIS BROTHER JIMMY'S INVOLVEMENT WITH PETER O'NEILL IN THE NPF SCANDAL.   THEY ALL WANT YOU, A CITIZEN OF PNG, TO NEVER KNOW ALL THIS AND IF YOU DID HEAR IT, TO HAVE A SHORT MEMORY:

STEERING CORRUPT CASH INTO AUSTRALIA INTO PNG:  A HOW-TO GUIDE
    June 24 2015   Sydney Morning Herald
   
    Nick McKenzie, Richard Baker, John Garnaut

EXCLUSIVE

Australia has been exposed as a safe haven for corrupt funds from overseas after a pair of top lawyers were caught on video explaining how regional leaders steal money from their own people and park it in bank accounts here.

'The days of banging a million bucks into a bank account are gone'

Lawyer Greg Sheppard is seen in this secret recording explaining how to avoid detection when making illegal payments to foreign politicians. See more video from the investigation on tonight's Dateline at 9.30pm on SBS ONE.

Fairfax Media has obtained recordings of an undercover sting that show one Papua New Guinea lawyer, Harvey Maladina, explaining how a "prestigious" law firm and a well-known Queen's counsel issue inflated invoices to conceal the movements of corrupt money.

And his law firm partner, former Queensland crown prosecutor Greg Sheppard, is shown on camera saying that the "only way" to bribe foreign politicians and avoid getting caught is to pay "small dribs and drabs" disguised as commercial transactions.

Both Mr Sheppard and Mr Maladina are considered to be close to PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill and senior ministers and advisers, upon whom Canberra relies heavily for providing the Manus Island immigration detention centre. Mr Sheppard was appointed in 2014 as a "resident" director of the company that provides security to the centre, but resigned in January.

But covertly-filmed footage using operatives posing as Australian businessmen opens an unprecedented window into how Australian lawyers, accountants and migration agents enable corrupt politicians to undermine their impoverished home countries and shift billions of dollars into the relative safety of Australian bank accounts and real estate.

The footage filmed by anti-corruption NGO Global Witness exposes deep complacency among Australian politicians and enforcement agencies, as well as large holes in Australia's regulatory regime.

On Tuesday, Fairfax Media revealed how corrupt high-ranking Malaysian officials had teamed with Australian developers to launder kickbacks through a multi-million dollar student apartment complex in Caulfield, Melbourne. Those officials relied on a local financial services firm and auditing firm to create offshore companies used to facilitate the transactions.

The PNG sting operation goes much further, showing Australian lawyers coaching prospective clients on how to move suspect funds without attracting police attention.

"It would have to be something that didn't raise suspicion, something that was ostensibly commercial," says Mr Sheppard, to the under-cover operative.

"The days of banging a million bucks into this secret numbered account in Singapore is over," he says.

Mr Sheppard acts for "prominent clients in Papua New Guinea, including Prime Ministers, Ministers of State and businessmen", according to his website. His clients include senior figures in the government of Mr O'Neill, who is considered an ally of Canberra, and has been implicated in several huge financial scandals.

He also manages and finances his childrens' smash-hit pop group, Sheppard.

Three of Mr Sheppard's children are in the Brisbane indie-pop group, Sheppard, which had a number-one Australian hit single, Geronimo, and has been nominated for several major recording industry awards. He resigned his directorship of Manus Island detention centre to protect the family band from the stigma associated with it.

The second lawyer, Mr Maladina, claims on camera that his brother, convicted fraudster Jimmy Maladina, is "very close" and "chief adviser" to Mr O'Neill.

"He advises Peter, he talks to the Prime Minister every five minutes," says Harvey Maladina, about his brother Jimmy. "You want a license … he gets it."

The footage shows Mr Maladina boasting about how his brother Jimmy acted as a middleman to hide corrupt payments relating to the National Provident Fund, a workers' pension fund, that went "back to the prime minister". He says the brother covered up Mr O'Neill's involvement by fleeing to Australia for several years.

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