THE trial on the case of the former permanent secretary for the Ministry of Infrastructure Development (MID) Henry Murray and his wife Rose, who were accused of defrauding the government of more than $1million, continues today in the Honiara Magistrates’ Court.
The reason to have this trial proceed into the weekend is to catch up with the one-month time frame fixed to hear this matter.
So far more than one week has gone by and the prosecution’s second witnesses, is yet to complete his evidence.
The Director of Mechanical Engineering Division within the MID, Leslie Nate, started his evidence on Wednesday.
He was cross-examined yesterday by the Murray’s lawyer and will continue today before Chief Magistrate Emma Garo.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Communication and Aviation, Moses Virivolomo was the first prosecution witness.
He already completed presenting his evidence last week.
Prosecution has another 41 more witnesses to call in this trial.
Henry faces 14 counts of official corruption while his wife is facing 16 counts of false pretence for allegedly defrauding the government of more than $1million between April 2014 and April 2017.
They were both arrested by the anti-corruption task force JANUS.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 by Murray.
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 Government.
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 of 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.
The L & L Lawyers is representing Murray and his wife while Public Prosecutor Florence Joel is appearing for the Crown.
By ASSUMPTA BUCHANAN
