Arrest warrants for duo upheld

News that matter in Papua New Guinea

    Rex Kiponge                                   Sekie Agisa

Arrest warrants for duo upheld

PORT MORESBY: A district court has refused an application to set aside arrest warrants issued last month for a state agency managing-director (MD) and a former government minister, ruling the warrant is “in order”.

Magistrate Paul Puri Nii made the ruling in Waigani yesterday (Nov 7, 2022) on applications filed by National Airports Corporation MD Rex Kiponge and former Civil Aviation Minister Sekie Agisa to have the arrest warrants against them set aside.

The court proceedings were reported by The National:

Bid to revoke arrest warrant refused

November 8, 2022The NationalMain Stories

By CLARISSA MOI
A COURT has refused an application to set aside an arrest warrant issued last month for a state agency managing director and a former government minister, saying the warrant is “in order”.
District Court Magistrate Paul Puri Nii made the ruling in Waigani on an application filed by National Airports Corporation (NAC) managing director Rex Kiponge and former Civil Aviation Minister Sekie Agisa to have the arrest warrant against them set aside.
He said the ruling was “based on reasonable grounds”.
“Any information is not the evidence but it contains elements of an offence which are reinforced by the brief allegation of facts,” he said.
“A brief summary of facts is not evidence but it is the police investigator’s personal judgment or a summary of what he or she believes based on the complaint provided.”
The warrant was issued on Oct 20 for Kiponge and Agisa based on allegations of official corruption.
Kiponge and Agisa had argued, through their lawyer Dan Kakaraya, last Thursday that there was no evidence to substantiate the allegations.
Police prosecutor Senior Sergeant Christian Iga objected to the application, saying the warrant was issued based on an allegation, thus evidence was not required at the time the warrant was issued.
Also, the summary of facts was sufficient for the court to issue a warrant and the evidence would be provided after the two men were charged.
Magistrate Nii noted that Kiponge and Agisa had not contested the validity of the warrant itself.
“If defendants want to challenge the validity of an arrest warrant then it may be challenged after it is executed if they were of the view that it was defective,” he said.

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