3 Feb 2009

Koror speaker in Palau found guilty of perjury and misconduct in office

6:21 pm on 3 February 2009

The Speaker of the Koror State government in Palau has been found guilty of three counts of perjury and two counts of misconduct in public office.

Timothy Uehara, also known as Tero Uejara, was acquitted of 43 counts of grand larceny and 42 counts of false pretenses.

Uehara, who will be sentenced in March, was charged for failing to submit rental payments he received from tenants of a property in Meketii to the Koror State Public Lands Authority.

In finding Uehara guilty of perjury, Associate Justice Kathleen M. Salii said that the defendant signed financial disclosure statements which indicated he had no reportable sources of income from non-government employment despite the fact he was collecting money from tenants of the property for four years.

The court found Uehara guilty of misconduct in public office for perjuring himself by filing in false financial statements to the Ethics Commission on three occasions between 2002 and 2005 while in office as a public official.