Former PS enriched himself with public funds, court told
By ASSUMPTA BUCHANAN
SACKED permanent secretary Henry Murray misused public power entrusted to him by improperly and unlawfully enriching himself with government funds, a court was told yesterday.
Public prosecutor Florence Joel relayed this to the court in her opening address of the trial of Murray and his wife Rose, who are accused of stealing more than $1 million of public funds through fraud.
“The act and practices of corruption has been an ongoing concern of the citizens of Solomon Islands,” Ms Joel told Chief Magistrate Emma Garo.
“Many have spoken out in the media and other forums against corruption in this country,” she added.
“People in power improperly and unlawfully enriched themselves with government funds by misusing the public power entrusted to them.
“This case we bring before you is one of them.
“It is a case of official corruption and false pretence where a senior officer of the government in the discharge of his duties corruptly obtained money from the Solomon Islands government through vehicle Hire Agreements.
“The defendant Rose Murray, wife of Henry Murray, assisted him to facilitate such activity through acts of false pretence.”
Murray allegedly committed the offences while he was permanent secretary in the Ministry of Infrastructure Development (MID).
He is charged with 14 counts of official corruption while his wife faces 16 counts of false pretence for the offences alleged committed between April 2014 and April 2017.
They were both arrested by the anti-corruption task-force JANUS.
Ms Joel said the Crown’s case is that Murray between 06 August 2015 to 30 April 2017 corruptly obtained financial benefit from the Ministry of Infrastructure Development by using his position as Permanent Secretary of MID to approve the hiring of his own company’s vehicle in the Vehicle Hire Agreement between Krash Transport and Marketing and Ministry of Infrastructure Development, and granting expenditure payments to his own business.
“The defendant Rose Murray between the 1st of April 2014 to 30 April 2017 has intention to defraud the Solomon Islands Government (MID) by using the name Rose Tome in the Vehicle Hire Agreement other than Rose Murray to conceal her identity in order to secure the Hire Agreement in order to obtain money from Solomon Islands Government,” Ms Joel said.
After opening their case, Prosecution called their first witness, the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Communication and Aviation, Moses Virivolomo.
Mr Virivolomo will continue with his evidence today.
Prosecution said they will be calling 43 witnesses, 17 of which are from the MID, 22 from the Ministry of Finance and Treasury, one each from the Leadership code Commission, the Public Service Commission, the Office of the Prime Ministry and Cabinet and Company Haus.
The Murrays were charged in relation to a company they allegedly set up in 2014, when Murray was employed as the Director of Mechanical Engineering Division which received $1,151,850 of public funds.
Murray was then appointed as Permanent Secretary on 31 August 2015 when he allegedly signed the agreement of Service as PS of MID with the Solomon Islands.
Prosecution alleged they registered the Krash Transport & Marketing as a business with the Company Haus on 11 February 2014.
They then allegedly opened an ANZ bank account to which they were both signatories.
It was alleged that on 15 August 2014, the defendant and his wife registered the business entity Krash Transport and Marketing with the Inland Revenue Division (IRD) of the Ministry of Finance & Treasury (MoFT) for tax purposes.
Between April 2014 and May 2017, it was alleged Krash Transport and Marketing have entered into agreements with the Ministry of Infrastructure Development.
These agreements as alleged have been for the hire of motor vehicles for personnel of the Ministry of Infrastructure Development, including the Permanent Secretary Murray himself.
Police alleged that the Ministry of Finance and Treasury, through the Ministry of Infrastructure Development, has made more than $1million Krash Transport and Marketing for motor vehicle hires.
These payments, which were allegedly made through cheques and electronic funds transfers, were deposited into their ANZ account in the name of Krash Transport and Marketing.
Private law firm, L & L Lawyers, is representing Murray and his wife.
