![]() One of Papua New Guinea's SENIOR lawyers Paul Paraka has been jailed 20 years for misappropriating K162 million of State money, with the judge saying the court must strongly condemn dishonesty offences by lawyers. Paraka, 54, was found guilty of five counts of misappropriating State property (money) between 2007 and 2011. Judge Teresa Berrigan said yesterday: “The loss of State monies is not some abstract concept. It has real and enduring social and economic impacts even if it is difficult to quantify them.” She said the sentencing was based on the maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment in this case. On the face of it, she said the sentences might properly be made cumulative, totalling 50 years imprisonment. But she took into account mitigating factors such as Paraka’s health and the good deeds he had done for the people and for the legal community. She therefore decreased it from 50 years to 20 years. She rejected Paraka’s application to have the matter adjourned for another month to allow him to travel overseas to receive treatment for his heart condition, noting that he did not have a valid passport, and that sentencing had been delayed enough already. Paraka told the court that his doctor had advised a week ago that he should seek medical treatment overseas.
“I may collapse at any time. When I come back you can hand down the sentence,” Paraka said. Justice Berrigan said Paraka being a senior lawyer was a very serious feature of the offence. “It is my view that the court must strongly condemn dishonesty offences by lawyers. “The more senior the lawyer, the more severe the punishment must be.” She added that the abuse of public funds greatly affected the people, and that K162 million Paraka misappropriated was never recovered. “I have taken into account the offender’s age, personal circumstances and medical conditions. I have also taken into account his lack of previous conviction, his prior good character, his contribution to the delivery of legal services for more than 20 years through one of the largest law firms in the country, his mentorship and support to numerous lawyers, together with his contribution as a leader, to the community and through charitable works.” She said while these factors weighed in his favour, they were outweighed by the seriousness of the crime committed. “This was a case of enormous magnitude, despicable greed and incalculable loss to the people of Papua New Guinea. “Each of the offences clearly constitutes misappropriation of the worst kind and I have no hesitation imposing the maximum penalty for each of the offences. “The offender shall serve an effective sentence of 20 years of imprisonment without hard labour. The offender’s bail money and any sureties lodged by the offender’s guarantors shall be refunded. “You are at liberty to appeal your sentencing and have 40 days to do so.” She ordered that Paraka be remanded at Bomana Prison immediately, and that the Correctional Services would make sure he continued to get proper medical treatment for his heart condition. She said she had no reason to believe that imprisonment would deprive Paraka of receiving ongoing treatment from his doctor at the Port Moresby General Hospital. TheNational/PNGFacts Also read Comments are closed.
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