Friday, February 03, 2012

Medical store chief on K1.76 million theft charge

By JUNIOR UKAHA

A SENIOR public servant is facing charges relating to the illegal use of K1.767 million belonging to the Health Department, The National reports.
Christian Tarur, manager of the Badili area medical store, was on Monday arrested by Task Force Sweep.
Task Force chairman Sam Koim said Tarur faced charges of stealing, obtaining money by false pretences and misappropriation of funds.
Koim said Tarur was charged for his part “in orchestrating and benefiting from the fraudulent transfer of funds belonging to the Health Department in 2008.”
He said the transfer was for K1.767 million belonging to the health which was kept at Stevens Lawyers, Port Moresby.
It is alleged that Tarur and others conspired to cause the monies to be released to a private company from which he allegedly received a commission.
The Health Department in 2008 had arranged to buy the area medical stores facility at Badili from the IPBC, paying K1.767 million into Stevens Lawyers trust account to facilitate the purchase.
The purchase was however aborted when IPBC decided to give the property freely to the department for its medical stores.
Koim said the money was retained at the law firm’s trust account until it was released to a company called PACPNG Pharmaceuticals Suppliers for the purchase of medical drugs under bogus instructions.
It is alleged that on Sept 8, 2008, Tarur cashed a BSP cheque and received K15,000 over the counter.
Koim said the K1.7 million was spent over a period of four months by the bogus company. The bank account was subsequently closed while the owners were on run.
The Task Force alleged that no medicines were supplied to the health department or received by the AMS.

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