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MP Mua released on $5k cash bail

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

A cash bail of $5000 was granted by the Court yesterday on the case of Member of Parliament for Savo-Russells Dickson Mua.

Mr Mua was arrested and charged by police over allegations of conversion.

The MP appeared in court yesterday and was released on bail with strict conditions.

He will appear back in court on November 14 for mention.

Mua is charged in relation to an incident which occurred in 2013 in which he was alleged to have converted a $3-million shipping grant for other purposes.

According to the Assistant Commissioner Ian Vaevaso, the allegation relates to an application that was submitted to the Ministry of Infrastructure Development by Mr Mua, and according to the proposal document, the MP was seeking $3million from the SIG through the NTF in 2013 to purchase a ship for Savo Russells Constituency.

The proposal was processed and approved by the MID and the grant was paid on December 30, 2013.

It was alleged that on January 2, 2014 the Constituency Development Officer of Savo/Rusells collected the cheque from the Finance and deposited it in the Savo Russell constituency bank account.

Police further alleged that the MP started to make a series of withdrawals from the account when the money was deposited until that money was completely withdrawn on February 4, 2014.

Mr Vaevaso said the matter was then reported to police and an investigation was carried out which led to police interviewing the MP in February this year.

Investigation revealed that instead of using the $3million to purchase the ship as its intended purpose, the MP allegedly paid $2.8m to a local company for the purpose of items such as OBMs and other equipment for distribution to his supporters in Savo Russell constituency.

It is further alleged that $200,000 of the money was withdrawn as cash and used for other expenses not related to the purpose of the shipping grant.

“Since then the RSIPF corruption targeting team had continued to work closely with the office of the Director Public Prosecutions to finalise the case,” Vaevaso said.

Choiseul provincial assembly meeting rescheduled

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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BY BARNABAS MANEBONA

THE Choiseul Provincial Assembly meeting set for this month is rescheduled to November 19-23 at the Taro provincial station.

It was previously set for November 12-16.

According to Hon Nerio Ulemiki the Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) for Northwest Choiseul’s Ward 12 at Varisi Lavata reporting, the main paper of the meeting is ‘Choiseul Province Revised Budget Appropriation 2018/2019’.

To add, Hon Ulemiki said the Provincial Members, Executive Members and Members of the Provincial Public Accounts Committee were informed by the Choiseul Provincial Assembly Clerk Mr Christopher Makoni over the Government Businesses of the months between October and November 2018.

“Prior to the Assembly Meeting as per schedule of the Government Businesses of the months between October and November, Executive Members will hold their meeting on the 5th to 9th of November and the Public Accounts Committee Members will hold their meeting on the 12th to 16th of November to carefully scrutinise the Revised Budget before the full Assembly meet.”

Mua arrested

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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MP for Savo/Russell Dickson Mua and Minister for Ministry of Forestry and Research.

-Savo-Russell MP cuffed over $3M conversion allegations

-Police Commissioner refutes rumours of a politically motivated case

 

BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

MP for Savo/Russell Dickson Mua.

MEMBER of Parliament for Savo Russells Dickson Mua has been arrested and charged for alleged conversion of a $3million grant in 2013.

Police Commissioner Matthew Varley, in a press conference yesterday, confirmed the arrest, saying that yesterday’s arrest is the result of long and hard investigations by the RSIPF Corruption Targetting Team.

“This particular case that we refer to today was investigated by National Criminal Investigation Department NCID and in particular the corruption targeting team,” Mr Varley said.

He said the case is one of the ‘long term investigated case’ and has been comprehensively investigated by Assistant Commissioner Ian Vaevaso and his team.

“So today we can announce that the Royal Solomon Island Police Force Corruption targeting team has arrested and charged the Member of Parliament for Savo Russells the Hon Dickson Mua for the alleged offence of conversion under section 278 of the penal code, for the alleged conversion of the $3million of a grant from the National Transport Fund in 2013 which was paid to the Savo Russell constituency,” Varley said.

Varley said the payment of that grant was for the purpose of purchasing a ship and police alleged that the money was never used to purchase the ship.

Meanwhile, Varley also refutes rumours which claim that this particular case is politically motivated.

Speculations surrounding the case suggest that the case against Mua is politically motivated as the person who is behind the case is a police officer who had recently resigned to contest the National General Elections for Savo/Russells.

In yesterday’s conference, Varley responded to media questions, denying any form of conflict of interest on Mua’s case.

“Our investigations are thorough and subjects to checks and balances and not politically motivated at all.

“So people can make claims and I guess if that’s the claim the MP and his supporters can make that in court but we stand behind our case and we stand behind the investigators that do their job,” Varley said.

Varley said police have a large number of cases in the order of dozens of cases in front of them.

“But what we do and as I have said before we prioritize our resources our limited resources to best effect by looking at the cases that are the most serious, the cases that have the highest availability of evidence and highest likely hood of a successful prosecution.

“We can’t investigate everything but we do our very best to investigate the most important cases we have many others on our books at the moment and we will continue to investigate them.”

He also downplayed rumours that police are planning a mass scale arrest on MPs.

“I know that rumour has been going around and as I have said before that is not true I have also said before that we do have number of other cases under investigation and we will continue to proceed to finality as soon as we can.”

 

ENDS///

WC prep begins Nov 7

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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National Under 16 of Solomon Islands

BY ROMULUS HUTA

IT’S official.

The national under-16 side’s preparation for next year’s FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Peru will begin Wednesday next week.

Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) confirms yesterday.

SIFF said head coach Stanley Waita held a meeting last Friday at SIFF Academy with members of the squad who are currently based in Honiara.

“Coach Stanley told the players training will resume next week and November 7th is the proposed date.”

SIFF said some members of the current squad are still out in the provinces holidaying after playing in the September qualifiers.

“Provincial players will join the team soon and SIFF to facilitate for their travelling arrangement to Honiara,” SIFF said.

Meanwhile, Solomon Islands and New Zealand will take part in the 18th edition of the global biennial event as Oceania representatives after finishing as the top two teams in the regional qualifiers held in Honiara last month.

Next year’s youth world cup is scheduled to run from October 5 to 27 across eight host cities in Peru.

Four Asian teams namely Australia, Japan, South Korea and Tajikistan join host nation Peru and the two Oceania reps Solomon Islands and New Zealand, occupying the first seven slots in the 24-team tournament.

Seventeen slots are yet to be filled by teams from UEFA (Europe – 5 teams), CAF (Africa – 4 teams), CONMEBOL (South America – 4 teams) and CONCACAF (Central, North America and Caribbean – 4 teams).

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Rick Hou has assured the Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) of his government’s support for the Solomon Islands national U-17 team towards their preparations for the world cup through the Ministry of Home Affairs.

$32M FINE

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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0
The High Court of Solomon Islands. Photo by SIBC.

Court orders former RIPEL & LSL associate over unlawful land sales in Lungga

 

By Alfred Sasako

THE High Court has ordered Willem Johan Van Vlymen, a former business associate of Lever Solomons Ltd (LSL) and RIPEL, to pay more than $32 million in default judgement over unauthorised withdrawal of funds and unauthorised sale of land at Lungga in East Honiara.

The judgement was entered by the High Court of Solomon Islands in Honiara on October 16, 2018, according to court papers obtained by Island Sun

It is understood Mr Vlymen has applied to the High Court to have the judgement set aside.

The ruling stemmed from a case between LSL as first claimant and Russell Islands Plantation Ltd as second claimant with Vlymen as defendant.

In entering the Judgement against the defendant, the Court ordered:

(1)            that judgement in default of defence in terms of the claimants’ claim filed on 17th August 2018 be entered against the Defendant on the terms stipulated under paragraph 1, 2(a) & (b) and 3 of the reliefs claimed and as read with Rule 5.37(a) and (c) of the Solomon Islands Civil Procedure Rules 2007 in that:

(a)            the defendant pay to the claimants the total sum of $SBD32,318,320 for special damages;

(b)            In the alternative to paragraph 1(a) above;

(i)              SBD12,815,589 for unauthorised withdrawal of monies belonging to the First and Second claimants; and

(ii)            SBD19,502,731 for unauthorised disposal of lands belonging to the first claimant.

The High Court also granted a five (5) percent interest on the SBD32,318,320 effective from August 17 this year – the date of filing the claim.

When the Island Sun contacted him yesterday, Patrick Wong said he could not comment as the matter is before the court.

However, Mr Wong clarified that all proper notices were served by lawyers, as far back as mid-2017, and also when Mr Vlymen was present at a Company Board meeting, together with Receiver Manager.

“Till today John Whiteside, together with Mr Van Vlymen are withholding documents and records legally belonging to the company,” he said.

Development of reparation policy for Solomon Islands

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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Participants during the reparation frame work consultation workshop.

BY GEORGE MANFORD

AUKI

Participants during the reparation frame work consultation workshop.

INTERNATIONAL consultant engaged by UNDP for the reparation framework consultation Mr Patrick Burgees yesterday informed workshop participants about transitional justice (TJ) and reparation in Auki.

According to the United Nations Mr Burgees said transitional justice is an approach that includes all of the steps taken by a society to address a history of mass human rights violations.

This includes the four pillars of a transition justice framework, prosecution of those most responsible, seeking the truth about what had happen, providing reparations to victims and reforming institutions and society in order to guarantee that the violations do not recur.

The Solomon Islands has made considerable progress towards peace and healing after the damage caused by the tension.

This has led to a stable and secure environment that is essential for development.

Burgees added, achievements in terms of the four pillars of the transition justice framework include prosecution, truth, reform and preventing recurrence and reparation.

The primary duty of a government is to protect its citizens from harm.

When mass human rights violation are committed the state has fail in its duty to protect.

He also stated it therefore has an obligation to try to repair the lives of the victims.

This is always a very difficult task that resources to assist are in most cases very limited.

The number of victims are hundreds, thousands, and sometimes in the millions and it is important that limited resources available are used to help the victims of the most serious violations and those victims who are most vulnerable, the sick, disable, poor and mentally disturbed.

In many counties the relatively small amount of funds available for reparation have been largely wasted because the mechanisms established are not effective or are open to corruption, nepotism and political influence. Great care has to be taken in establishing a reparation programme to ensure that the help gets most deserving and needy victims.

Solomon Islands sign grant for facility to improve transport projects

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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THE Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Solomon Islands yesterday signed a grant agreement to fund a new facility which will finance the design and implementation readiness of the government’s priority transport projects.

The agreement establishing the Transport Sector Project Development Facility was signed by Solomon Islands Permanent Secretary for Finance and Treasury, Harry Kuma and ADB’s Pacific Liaison and Coordination Office Regional Director Ms Emma Fan at a ceremony in Honiara during a visit by members of the Board of Directors of ADB to the country. ADB Executive Directors Mr In-chang Song, Mr Tony McDonald, Mr Syurkani Ishak Kasim, Mr Shahid Mahmood, Mr Philip Rose, Mr Kris Panday, Mr Mahbub Ahmed, and Mr Enrique Galan witnessed the event.

“The Ministry of Infrastructure Development, Solomon Islands Port Authority, and the Ministry of Communication and Aviation will all benefit from the facility, which will help deliver projects faster and improve connectivity in the country,” said Mr Kuma.

“ADB’s activities in the transport sector in Solomon Islands are delivering safe, efficient, and reliable intermodal links to connect people with the resources and opportunities they need to thrive,” said Ms Fan.

“The new facility will help us better support the long-term sustainability of our investment in transport in Solomon Islands.”

The Transport Sector Project Development Facility, which was approved in September by ADB’s Board of Directors, will prepare feasibility studies and designs for transport projects, provide implementation support for procurement and social safeguard activities at the beginning of the project cycle, and provide training for project implementing agencies.

The facility will help increase investment in the transport sector, preserve key assets, reduce delays in project implementation, and improve the quality of project designs.

ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty.

Established in 1966, it is owned by 67 members—48 from the region. In 2017, ADB operations totaled $32.2 billion, including $11.9 billion in co-financing.

–ADB PRESS

Tikopian delegation off to France

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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Chief Gifty Tinamo in the center with delegation before departed to France on Thursday.

BY LYNTON AARON FILIA

 

Chief Gifty Tinamo in the center with delegation before departed to France on Thursday.

THE small island of Tikopia and its way of life will be viewed in one of Paris’s famous cinemas, God Planet Foundation. This documentary will be viewed by an audience in Europe together with the chiefs from Tikopia.

For the first time, 39-year-old Chief Gifty Tinamo from Tikopia and five other chiefs representing each tribe in Tikopia will travel to Europe to be a part of the viewers when the documentary airs.

The film itself was documented about the way of life of the Tikopian people, their connection to the environment and culture.

In Paris, the chief and his delegation will also have the opportunity to meet with individual journalists and the media.

The documentary was created in 2015 as follow-up from the book written by Firth, Raymond William— We, the Tikopia: a sociological study of kinship in primitive Polynesia.

Mr Daniel Fenua who is behind the arrangement said in the documentary film chief Tinamo has played the main character and the organisers requested his attendance.

He said an important aspect of the documentary is the challenges that the people face.

“It is not only about the culture and people from Tikopia,” he said.

For example, environment, particularly impact of climate change has affected the people’s livelihood.

This was also covered in the film, he adds.

In seeing the importance of the Tikopian’s way of life through the storyboard, the film director requested the chief and his delegation for the premier screening. This is for viewers to see the characters while at the same time, meet the people as well.

With such trip, Fenua said it is the first time for a Tikopian chief to travel abroad. “This will go down in the history for the Tikopian community in Solomon Islands,” Fenua said.

As a person who strongly supports the trip, Ms Freda Tuki said she is excited their arrangement has been successful.

She said the documentary will portray Tikopia’s culture and history where Tokopians can also learn from.

The trip is self-funded and initiated by the people themselves.

The screening is on October 27 at God Planet Foundation in Paris.

November 5, there will be a big premiere in Paris cinema and another screening on Nov 6 in Strasbourg.

The chiefs left Honiara on Thursday for France.

SI stands with UN to maintain global peace

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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Deputy Prime Minister of Solomon Islands Mr Manasseh Sogavare.

BY LYNTON AARON FILIA

Deputy Prime Minister of Solomon Islands Mr Manasseh Sogavare.

SOLOMON Islands has pledged its stand to support United Nations to maintain global peace.

This sentiment was uttered by the Deputy Prime Minister of Solomon Islands Mr Manasseh Sogavare during the celebration of UN Day at National Auditorium on Wednesday this week.

Mr Sogavare said underpinning the formation of the United Nations is the need to maintain global peace, and Solomon Islands have been part of the process.

Following the support towards UN charter, Sogavare who is known as a UN champion for global peace and climate change said the UN efforts in peacekeeping remain important and must be supported.

He said, “Underpinning the formation of the United Nations is the need to maintain global peace.”

With UN efforts for global peace, Sogavare said Solomon Islands is proud to be a contributing country to UN Peacekeeping efforts by sending 12 police officers to South Sudan.

He said deploying the 12 officers towards the United Nations African mission in South Sudan is the country’s commitment towards achieving global peace and security.

Sogavare also adds that the country’s own experience with dealing with conflict and having benefitted from the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) instils a sense of appreciation for the value of peacekeeping missions.

He adds, the serving of the country’s 12 officers is a proof of reliance, and a demonstration of just how much Solomon Islands can offer the global community.

“Solomon Islands are an ardent believer in collective action. We are staunch supporters of multilateralism. Without the United Nations, Small Islands States like Solomon Islands would have no voice on global issues,” he said.

Meanwhile, 40 years of country’s membership with UN, Sogavare said Solomon Islands have seen impact of working together on global issues.

Through collective efforts Solomon Islands are able to join the global community battle Climate Change, Law of the Sea, Health, Refugees, Humanitarian Assistance, that are championed by the UN, he said.

UNDP Solomon Islands Country Manager Ms Azusa Kubota commended Solomon Islands for being a strong advocate on the causes and values on what UN stand for.

She commends SIG particularly for exemplary roles played as a member of the global community, in the inter-governmental processes such as the ongoing UN reform discussions and UN peacebuilding commission.

Ms Kubota also acknowledges development partners, civil society, academics and private sector for sharing the passion and commitment with UN for a better future.

“The magnitude of challenges we face in today’s globalized world requires all of us working together. It is not about competition. We need to focus on the issues at hand and focus on delivering results,” she said.

PM discusses new development proposals with ADB

Written by
Milton Ragaruma
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ADB Board Members paid a courtesy visit to the PM today to discuss ongoing and proposed opportunities with the Prime Minister
ADB Board Members paid a courtesy visit to the PM today to discuss ongoing and proposed opportunities with the Prime Minister

PRIME Minister Rick Houenipwela has met with the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Board of Directors at the Office of the Prime Minister & Cabinet yesterday.

The Prime Minister took the opportunity to thank the ADB Board for their continuous support to Solomon Islands over the years.

“ADB has been with us for more than 40 years and has continued to support Solomon Islands in its development aspirations,” he said.

Prime Minister Hou also acknowledged ADB for its contributions in the transport, infrastructure and energy sector.

He said ADB’s support to the Tina Hydro Project is expected to reduce electricity costs in the country and also improve sustainable energy in the country.

“I also welcome ADB’s interest to advance projects in the energy sector to other provinces,” he said.

Mr Hou has also shared the Government’s vision for the next five years as the Government embarks on huge infrastructure projects ahead of the 2023 Pacific Games.

The Prime Minister said the road transportation project under ADB will be one of those important development infrastructures.

“Apart from that, I am also pleased to note that ADB has also embarked on wharf projects around the country. This is one of the most important infrastructure in Solomon Islands especially for our people in the rural areas,” he said.

ADB’s Board of Director’s Team Leader In-Chang Song on behalf of the ADB Board thank the Prime Minister for availing his time to meet with them.

Mr Song said ADB is always pleased to be supporting the advancement and the development aspirations of the Solomon Islands.

Song also informed the Prime Minister of ADB’s emerging Strategy 2030 and discuss how ADB is looking towards improving their modalities of knowledge sharing and the delivery of financial products.

He said they also had site visits to ADB supported energy, urban and infrastructure projects.

“We also had interactions with project beneficiaries, met with civil society groups and private sector representatives,” he said.

Prime Minister Hou and the ADB Board of Directors also discussed new and important development opportunities that ADB and Solomon Islands will explore.

After the meeting, the Prime Minister, Cabinet ministers and the ADB Board also witnessed the signing of a grant agreement between the Asian Development Bank and the Solomon Islands Government.

The visiting ADB Executive Directors are Mr In-chang Song, Mr Tony McDonald, Mr Syurkani Ishak Kasim, Mr Shahid Mahmood, Mr Philip Rose, Mr Kris Panday, Mr Mahbub Ahmed, and Mr Enrique Galan.

–OPMC PRESS

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