A SENIOR public servant will stand trial in the National Court on four of the five charges he faces in relation to the alleged inflation of the value of the Manumanu land in Central. Magistrate Garry Unjo in the Waigani Committal Court yesterday ruled that Lands Physical Planning assistant valuer-general Moses Kila had a case to answer on the charges of corruption of a valuator, false pretence, uttering and forgery. He dismissed the fifth charge of abuse of office for lack of evidence. On the charge of corruption of a valuator, Magistrate Unjo said: “The valuation act does not specify the work of the assistant valuer-general. “He pretended to be the valuer-general (Michael Gabriel). He said the statement by the valuer-general indicated that the valuation on the Manumanu land came to light only in the newspaper.
“The valuer-general was never informed by the defendant,” Magistrate Unjo said. “I find there is sufficient evidence under this circumstance to commit the defendant to stand trial.” On the charge of false pretence, he said Kila went beyond his authority as an assistant valuer-general to acquire benefits from the valuation. On the forgery charge, Magistrate Unjo said the signature on the valuation certificate issued under the hand of Kila was “moreover an attempt to be the valuer-general signed under the name of Gabriel Michael.” On the charge of uttering, he said Kila pretended to be the valuer-general and signed the documents under the name of Michael. Kila was alleged to have submitted a valuation certificate and report valued at K46.6 million for portions 406 and 154 to the Kumul Consolidated Holdings (KCH) after being tasked to do a valuation. KCH had already bought portions 422 and 423 at K7 million and K9 million respectively on Feb 27, 2015. In February, Michael made a full report on portion 406 and got a value of K34 million, which was K12.6 million less than Kila’s valuation. TheNational/PNGfacts Next : Court To Rule On Kandep Open Recount On Thursday Comments are closed.
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