In Papua New Guinea, the Gulf Governor Havila Kavo has been jailed for three years for misusing public money.
The Post Courier reports the misused 51-thousand US dollars was initially earmarked for infrastructure development in the Kikori district and was sitting in an LNG pipeline trust account.
The Deputy Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika reached the decision in the National Court despite defence pleadings for a non-custodial sentence.
Sir Gibbs also refused the defence submission asking him to use his discretion to suspend the entire sentence.
Instead the Deputy Chief Justice ruled that Kavo spend half of his three-year sentence in jail for breaching the trust of his people and deducted another 18 months for repaying the money.
The Post Courier reports the judge refused Kavo's argument that he acted on wrong advice provided by public servants in the Gulf provincial administration.
The money paid to Kavo came from nearly 4-million US dollars in funds from the national government for people living near the LNG pipeline in Kikori.
