By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
THE managing director of Motor Vehicle Insurance Limited (MVIL), Michael Makap, has been charged with hindering police investigations related to a vehicle that was allegedly stolen in Port Moresby and recovered in Milne Bay province.
Makap, along with his officer Piawi Laka, will appear before the Waigani District Court in Port Moresby on April 27th on one count each of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Both individuals are currently out on K500 bail.
Makap and Laka have been accused of failing to cooperate with the police investigation after the stolen 10-seater Land Cruiser was recovered in Alotau two years ago on October 28, 2020.
The vehicle was allegedly stolen about a year earlier on June 30th, 2019, in Port Moresby. Police have accused Makap and Laka of not reprimanding MVIL officers who allegedly changed the ownership of the vehicle without the approval of the original owner.
On June 30th, 2019, police received a report from the complainant that his vehicle was missing after he had hired it out to a former National Capital District Commission Project officer.
The complainant was sick and paralyzed in 2015, when he met the former project officer. The former project officer agreed to hire his vehicle for K1000 per day. In June 2016, the complainant went to seek medical treatment in Singapore. While he was in Singapore, the former project officer died of a stroke.
In mid-May 2018, the complainant returned to Port Moresby and inquired with the deceased’s wife and was told that a known person with some police men came and took away the vehicle. The known man then sold the vehicle to another man, who then sold it to a couple in Alotau.
While police were investigating the missing vehicle in Port Moresby without knowing where the vehicle was, MVIL officers in Alotau tipped off the police after the husband and wife attempted to renew the vehicle registration that had expired in November 2020.
The vehicle was not registered under their name. When Alotau police questioned the couple, they admitted to buying the vehicle for K42,000 from a man in Port Moresby, and the vehicle was shipped to Alotau.
Alotau police then contacted the police in Port Moresby and discovered that it was the vehicle belonging to the complainant. However, when police requested documents from MVIL as part of the investigation, Makap and Laka did not cooperate, which resulted in their arrest.
