DPP says ruling inadequate, they’ll appeal against

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The Office of the Director of Public Prosecution will appeal the ruling against a former public officer who was found guilty of receiving $195,000 corruptly when he was the procurement officer in the Ministry of Health and Medical Services.

Robert Manu was given a two-year suspended sentence last Friday by Magistrate Emily Zazariko for receiving $195,000 in 2012 in exchange for facilitating payments to a shipping company.

Manu was found guilty of three charges of official corruption. The three payments were deposited into his bank account on three different dates and were made soon after he made the payment requisitions for Eroba Shipping Services.

Solomon Star reported that Magistrate Emily Zazariko Vagibule Pakoa had imposed a final sentence of two years’ imprisonment for each count during her ruling.

However, she ordered the sentence to run concurrently meaning Manu is to serve two years imprisonment.

But, she invoked section 44 of the Penal Code and ordered the sentence to be suspended for two years.

This means Manu will serve his sentence outside of the Correctional Centre without additional conditions.

DPP to appeal ruling

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) told SBMOnline this afternoon that they are appealing the sentence.

“We are appealing the decision: Our main ground is the sentence was manifestly inadequate,” Office of DDP said.

It further states that the decision was very low considering the amount of money he had taken and the abuse of power and abuse of the government payment system.

Manu was convicted of using his position to expedite and authorize payments to Eroba Shipping totalling up to $1, 608,371 by passing the proper procurement procedures in exchange for large sums of money that were deposited into his personal bank account. Between 2012 and 2013, several officers in the ministry were involved in a scandal worth millions of dollars.