Samoa's Ministry of Police and Prisons has called on the Ministry of
Justice and Courts administration to work together after a prosecutor
was informed by a court officer of many police court case files being
found at the ministry's rubbish dump.
The assistant police commissioner, Papalii Li'o, in a letter to the
CEO of justice, Masinalupe Tusipa, says some of the files found in a
rubbish bin were cases from 2004 to 2006.
The assistant commissioner has blamed one of the court registrars now
working in the probation office for the alleged action.
The CEO says the files were cases of minor traffic offences being
withdrawn in court because police officers who filed the charges were
slack and slow in returning summons to confirm the availability of
witnesses and alleged defendants.
