THE Acquisition Officer who falsified documents that were produced to the Ministry of Lands, Housing & Survey (MLHS) about land acquired for mining on Rennell island in Renbel Province in 2015 has been fined $600.
Principal Magistrate Tearo Beneteti yesterday also included 10 hours of counseling for the defendant, 79-year-old Laury Penrose Palmer.
The maximum sentence for this offence is an imprisonment term of two years or a fine of $600.
Palmer was convicted and sentenced after he was found guilty after a trial for one count of Corrupt Practice.
He has until the 20th of December to pay up the fine and failure to pay up by then, will result in an imprisonment term of two weeks.
Private lawyer Gabriel Suri, who filed an appeal against the judgement, informed the court he might be also be looking at including the sentence to the appeal.
Magistrate Beneteti imposed the $600 fine after she considered the age of the defendant, which she described as a vulnerable, his current health status, the circumstances of this case, the aggravating features and the mitigating factors.
The accused is currently under medication and is suffering from pneumonia, hypertension, heart problems and other illnesses which affect his physical movement.
For the aggravating feature, the prosecution highlighted the impact the land acquisition has on the people on Rennell.
Magistrate Beneteti said when the acquisition of the land happened, people were actually affected in accessing the land as nature of land also changed, adding that after the acquisition, the mining operation actually happened and people became affected thereafter.
Magistrate Beneteti told Palmer that he was not responsible for the full extent of the impact.
She said he was only responsible for the job he did, which in her view, he was guilty for corrupt practices in the manner he executed his duties and was responsible for everything that happened.
“For example, to say, if the mining company came in and dis the damage, it is not your doing.”
Palmer was charged for the offence he committed in 2015 whereby he failed to post public notices at Lavangu, Teabamangau, Niupani, Tigoa Station and Kagua as required by the provisions of the Lands and Title Acts.
The court found after the trial that the public notices were never posted to inform the people from the concerned areas about his decisions.
Palmer, who is an acquisition officer (Agent of COL), was appointed as a Land Acquisition Officer on 26 August 2014 by the Commissioner of Lands to acquire customary lands on West Rennell for mining.
According to Palmer’s record of interview with the Police, it was the Asia Pacific Investment Development (APID) Company lawyer who wrote to the Commissioner of Lands to appoint him as the Land Acquisition Officer for West Rennell.
The purpose of the acquisition was to allow APID to commence its mining operation.
Palmer, however, failed to post up the notices, whilst in his report, he falsely stated to the Commissioner of Lands that he did post the public notices.
By ASSUMPTA BUCHANAN
Newsroom, Honiara
