A WARRANT of arrest (WOA) issued for the arrest of the Minister of Provincial Governments and Institutional Strengthening David Tome has been withdrawn on Monday.
This was after Michael Pitakaka of Michael Pitakaka Law Chamber who represents Tome applied to have the warrant of arrest withdrawn.
Principal Magistrate John Numapo issued the warrant of arrest on September 1, when the matter came before the court for mention.
On that day, Pitakaka did not turn up in court to update the court on the status of his client as to whether or not he was back in the country.
Mr Pitakaka explained to the court he was engaged with a different matter in another court room on the day the warrant of arrest was issued for his client.
“That is where the confusion lies,” Mr Pitakaka explained.
Mr Pitakaka told the court his client is still in Australia undergoing medical treatment.
He said the court had previously made the bail variations to enable his client to travel to Australia for medical treatment since Solomon Islands does not have the required facility and capabilities here.
“My client will be there for quite some time,”
He asked the court to have the warrant of arrest withdrawn and asked if the matter can be adjourned for another 28 days.
He said on that day, he will further advice the court on the status of his client.
Public Prosecutor Florence Joel confirmed Tome is still in Australia undergoing treatment.
She said from inquiries received, the date of his return is still uncertain.
Mr Numapo granted an adjournment to October 17 after withdrawing the warrant of arrest.
He then directed the defence to provide the court with a copy of the accused’s medical report.
This was purposely for the court to know of Tome’s health status so as to make further progress with this case.
A possible date for the pre-trial conference on this matter may also be discussed in court on that date as well.
The court had last month waived some of Tome’s bail conditions to enable him to travel overseas for medical treatment at the St Vincent Hospital in Sydney, Australia.
His lawyer said Tome needs further treatment but Solomon Islands does not have the required medical facility to attend to his case.
Tome’s case was supposed to be for a pre-trial conference early last month but given his health condition, it was vacated.
Minister Tome faces 14 counts of conversion as he was accused of converting $67, 170 that was supposed to be for a tree farming project in his constituency.
Prosecution alleged that on 27 June 2011 Shem Tome on behalf of the community association owned and registered as Grass Root Economic Development Community (GREDC) which was involved in tree farming or reforestation in Baegu/Asifola Constituency, submitted their application for the amount of $80,000 to their MP, Tome, through the Forestry office in Auki.
The money was meant for buying tools and materials for reforestation.
It was alleged that the proposal without the endorsement of the Member of Parliament for Baegu/Asifola Constituency David Tome was then later refereed to the Ministry of Forestry and Research, in particular the office of Reforestation in Honiara.
The proposal was later endorsed by the Director of Reforestation on 30 June 2011.
It was further alleged the proposal was then forwarded to the office of the Permanent Secretary (PS) for further approval and the PS later endorsed and approved it for payment under the reforestation scheme on 19 July 2011.
The prosecution further alleged that the proposal was later forwarded to the Accounts Section of the Ministry of Forestry and Research and a requisition was raised on 1 August 2011.
Upon approval by the Financial Controller, the payment was forwarded to the Ministry of Finance and Treasury (MoFT) for payment.
It was alleged that the Ministry of Finance approved and paid the amount of $80,000 on 24 August 2011 from the Government Account for this project.
Police investigators however, alleged Tome collected the cheque on an unknown date from the Ministry of Finance and later deposited it into his constituency account on 9 September 2011 at the ANZ bank in Honiara.
He then allegedly withdrew various amounts of money on various dates on September 2011 totalling up to $67, 170.
The money, according to the proposal, should be paid to Honiara Hardware for tools and materials in full and not for withdrawal in single cheques as the accused allegedly did.
The constituents have no idea whether or not the payment was made until a forestry officer made it known to one of them who in turn reported the matter to the police.
By ASSUMPTA BUCHANAN
