Two senior public servants in Papua New Guinea's Enga province have been jailed for eight years for corruption involving public funds.
Wabag district's Treasurer Esther Ere and Civil Works co-ordinator Josiah Nathan were each jailed for eight years "with hard labour" for misappropriating over US$1.3 million of public funds.
Bomana Correctional Facility, Papua New Guinea Photo: RNZI / Johnny Blades
This money had been intended for the provision of goods and services in the district.
The newspaper The National reports the pair were found guilty in the National Court by Deputy Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika.
The court heard that they withdrawn the money from the Wabag district service improvement trust account on the pretext of building and maintaining roads, bridges and other work.
The court found that no such work took place, and that the two pu blic sevrants dishonestly applied the money for their own use.
Sir Gibbs said in the court decision that public servants were employed by the government and appointed to "very senior positions to serve the people and not to steal from them".
He found they had abused the high degree of trust and responsibility placed in them.
Ere and Nathan are to serve their eight-year jail term at Bomana prison in the National Capital District
