BY JENNIFER KUSAPA
TRIAL into the case against the former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and his wife has commenced in the Honiara Magistrate Court yesterday.
First prosecution witness has been called and will continue giving evidence today.
This is the case in relation to the suspended permanent secretary Mr Henry Murray and his wife.
Murray is facing counts of official corruption contrary to section 91 (a) of the Penal Code and Rose Murray is facing 19 counts of false pretence contrary tosection 308 (a) of the Penal Code.
They were charged in relation to an allegation relate to a series of offences alleged between 2014 to 2017 in relation to multiple payments of motor vehicle hire charges to a company that police alleged was registered to the PS and his wife.
The value of those payments is estimated to the excess of 1.1 million dollars and as a result of that they both face a range of serious charges.
The couple appeared at the Honiara Magistrate Court and apart from the cash bail other strict conditions also applied on both the accused.
That they must surrender all passports (official and personal), Surrender any or all keys, access cards, identification cards to the offices of Ministry of Infrastructure Development (MID) including telecommunication devices, cellular phones laptop computers, motor vehicles, passwords and pass codes and uniform items provided to him by virtue of his contract of employment as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Infrastructure Development;
Not to approach or enter Office buildings belonging to the Ministry of Infrastructure Development or Ministry of Finance & Treasury;
To reside at their current residential address situated at East Kola Ridge, Honiara;
Not to interfere with Police witnesses;
Not to contact any person directly or indirectly employed by the Ministry of Infrastructure Development or the Ministry of Finance & Treasury;
Not to leave or travel out of Honiara or Guadalcanal Province without the consent of the court and to report to Naha Police Station every Mondays and Fridays between 8:00am – 4:00pm.
Leslie Kwaiga from L & L law firm represents the couple while Florence Joel from the Office of the Director Public Prosecution appears for the crown.
