TECHNICAL issues have been raised on Friday on the case of the suspended Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Infrastructure Development Henry Murray and his wife, preventing them from taking their pleas.
Murray and his wife, who were accused of defrauding the government of more than $1.1 million, were to enter their pleas on Friday.
Murray faces 19 counts of official corruption while his wife faces 19 counts of false pretence.
However, they could not take their pleas after Chief Magistrate Emma Garo raised technical issues regarding a typing error on one of the charges and all the charge sheets that did not bear the magistrates’ signatures at the bottom.
She said the prosecution would have to sort out the typing error of a figure on one of the charges before the two accused could take their pleas.
Regarding the magistrate’s endorsement, she said there were no magistrates’ signatures at the bottom of the charge sheets to endorse the charges as outlined.
After discussing this issue, both the prosecution and the defence counsel agreed that the charges were never endorsed by a magistrate as seen on the charge sheets.
Ms Garo however invited submissions to be made by both counsels on this issue and for the court to make a ruling on it.
Public Prosecutor Florence Joel asked for an adjournment to give her time to sort out the issue and have the accused re-charged, and the charges re-filed.
Lazarus Kwaiga of L & L Lawyers, who represents the two accused, said all the charges against his clients were then defective and should be withdrawn because the prosecution could not remedy all these charges by the next court date.
He objected to any long-term adjournment, requesting only a shorter adjournment of seven days or less.
He said by giving a long adjournment, the prosecution would have the charges sorted out and re-filed by the next court date which means there will be no need for the submissions to be made in relation to the technical issue regarding the magistrates’ signatories.
Ms Garo having heard from both counsels decided that the matter adjourned for both counsels to prepare submissions for the court to make a ruling on it.
She then adjourned the matter to September 29 to hear the submissions from both counsels.
Murray and his wife were arrested by the anti-corruption taskforce JANUS.
Both were charged in relation to a company they allegedly set up in 2014, not long after Murray was appointed permanent secretary, and which received $1, 151,850 of public funds approved by Murray.
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 on 19 occasions.
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 payments of $1, 151,850 to 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.
In majority of the occasions, Murray allegedly granted the authority for payments to be made to Krash Transport and Marketing on the Solomon Islands Government Purchase Requisition and it was his endorsement and authority as the permanent secretary that sanctioned the payments.
Murray allegedly signed a Vehicle Hire Agreement between Krash Transport and Marketing and the Ministry of Infrastructure Development authorising the hire of the motor vehicles registered to Krash Transport and Marketing.
Police also alleged that many of the Vehicle Hire Agreements signed authorised payments for the hire of the vehicle driven by the PS, a vehicle that is registered in the name of Krash Transport and Marketing, the business entity owned and operated by Murray and his wife.
It was further alleged that Murray has entered into agreements with his own business, through the guise of his wife’s assumed maiden name of Tome (in this case Rose Tome), to cloud the issue of ownership for a vehicle he has exclusive use of on daily basis.
By ASSUMPTA BUCHANAN
