$300k plus belonging to OneLink allegedly stolen by police officer from Police Custody

A $300,000 belonging to the controversial One-Link and kept in custody as an exhibit has been allegedly stolen by a police officer.

The money was seized by Police in operations during their investigations into the operations of One-Link last year and was kept by police as part of their evidence and to be used as exhibits in the court.

But the Commissioner of Police Mostyn Mangau has sensationally revealed this morning that the entire $300,000 has been removed from police custody.

He expressed his anger and condemned the alleged actions of his officer(s) who removed the money.

One police officer has been suspended on half pay as internal investigation into the matter gets underway.

Mangau promised to get to the root of the issue and whoever responsible will face the full force of the law.

Police recovered the money during its investigation into the One-Link Pacifica scheme that has been going on since April 2020. It was discovered that the exhibit money had gone missing in the month of October 2020.

RSIPF Commissioner Mostyn Mangau says, “I have directed that PSII gives this matter priority among its other priorities. If PSII finds adequate evidence against the police officer then criminal charges could be laid against him.”

Commissioner Mangau says “The police officer looking after the RSIPF Exhibit Room has been suspended on half pay. But until then, the officer is innocent until proven guilty.”

Police recovered $121,791.20 in the possession of the Director of One Link during his first arrest and further recoveries from the One Link office in Honiara.

Another amount of money was recovered after the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at the Honiara City Central Police Station went over to the One Link director’s home village in South Malaita as part of the investigation.

The amount recovered during the second recovery is $215,100.00. Total amount of money recovered is $336,891.20Commissioner Mangau adds,

“I strongly condemn any action by any of my officers that leads to an erosion of the trust and confidence that the public has in the RSIPF to maintain law and order in this country.”

“Like any other organization, there are a few ‘bad apples’ within the RSIPF. I want to assure the public that the majority of the more than 1,500 officers within the Force are professional and ethical. We feel very sad when one of our own fail the trust members of the community have in us as police officers,” says Commissioner Mangau.

Commissioner Mangau has also issued instructions for a review of the protocols surrounding storage of exhibits held by the RSIPF with a view to ensuring this particular sad incident is not repeated in the future.