A group of leaders for the Community Mine Continuation Agreement (CMCA) Trust Region in Western Province have warned Young & Williams Lawyers from associating with OK Tedi Fly River Development Limited (OTFRDL).
The leaders in a joint statement issued the warning in light of the alleged misappropriation and stealing of the K268 million CMCA funds which the law firm was also alleged to be implicated.
“The OTFRDL does not represent the interests of 148, 000 people of CMCA communities and we ask the law firm to cease taking directions from this purported entity,” the leaders jointly stated.
They further called on the Young & Williams Lawyers to come out in public and tell the 148,000 people of CMCA communities as to who engaged its services and provide details on how it had used the K52 Million, which were reported to be deposited into its Trust Account as this was a lot of money for legal fees.
They also appealed to the Secretary of the purported entity (OTFRDL), Samson Jubi, who is based in Cairns, Australia, his Chairman, Steven Bagari, and other Directors of the entity who are hiding in Western Province to come forward and cooperate with the Police in its investigations.
Meanwhile, police investigations into the K268 million saga is ongoing with two arrests being made so far.
A fortnight ago, Edna Oai, a 45-year old female from South Fly District in Western Province was picked up from Daru on Monday 11th January, 2020, by the investigations team and flown to Port Moresby where she was arrested and formally charged with 15 counts of false pretense, conspiracy and misappropriation.
Police said Mrs Oai has been refused Police bail, due to the seriousness of the offences.
Just recently, the same investigation team arrested Lawyer Gregory James Sheppard of Young & Williams Lawyers in Port Moresby.
Mr Sheppard was charged with two counts of conspiracy and two counts of false pretense over the K268 million CMCA funds.