and In The Matter of Contempt of Court Charges against Valentine Kambori (2003) N2490

• Jurisdiction: Papua New Guinea
• Citation: (2003) N2490
• Date: 11 December 2003
• Docket Number: Bewa Tou on his own behalf and on behalf of Isou Clan of Krissa Village, Vanimo, Sandaun Province v Papua New Guinea Forest Authority, Vele Iamo Secretary for Department of Finance and The Independent State of Papua New Guinea
• Court: National Court
• Year: 2003

Full Title: Bewa Tou on his own behalf and on behalf of Isou Clan of Krissa Village, Vanimo, Sandaun Province v Papua New Guinea Forest Authority, Vele Iamo Secretary for Department of Finance and The Independent State of Papua New Guinea; and In The Matter of Contempt of Court Charges against Valentine Kambori (2003) N2490

National Court: Sevua J

Judgment Delivered: 11 December 2003

1 CONTEMPT—Contempt of Court—Disobedience of Court order—Order not to leave National Capital District—Contemnor travelled out of National Capital District contrary to order—Power of Court to punish—Public interest in upholding integrity of Courts—Public interest in due administration of justice—Punishment for contempt ought to take values into consideration—Imprisonment is appropriate punishment for contempt.

2 Pius Mark v Korali Iki [1995] PNGLR 116, Public Prosecutor v Nahau Rooney (No 2) [1979] PNGLR 448, Attorney–General Michael Gene v Pirouz Hamidian–Rad [1999] PNGLR 278, Richard Sikani v Peter Luga (2002) (Unreported and Unnumbered Supreme Court judgment, SCA 79 of 2002), The State v Foxy Kia Tala; Re Corney Winjan [1995] PNGLR 303, The State v Lucas Sasoruo [1997] PNGLR 676, Peter Luga v Richard Sikani (2002) N2285, Peter Luga v Richard Sikani (2002) N2286, Attorney–General v Times Newspaper [1974] AC 273, 302, John Rumet Kaputin v The State [1979] PNGLR 559, The State v Mark Taua; Re Awaita [1985] PNGLR 179, The State v Raymond Tupundu (1996) N1536 referred to

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Sevua J: Yesterday, I found Mr Valentine Kambori, Chairman of National Forest Board and Secretary for National Planning and Rural Development guilty of contempt of court on two counts of contempt in his capacity as Chairman of the National Forest Board.

The facts were outlined in my judgment on verdict yesterday, but for the purpose of sentence, I will allude to the facts again.

On 24 April 2003, this Court granted a default judgment in favor of the plaintiffs and against the National Forest Authority in the sum of K942,809.71 with interest and costs. That order was in relation to timber royalties in Vanimo invested in 1990 for and on behalf of the landowners of Bewani area, Vanimo. Therefore this is not an ordinary claim for a debt but for monies invested for the landowners of Bewani. The National Forest Authority did not pay the interest and costs submitted by the plaintiffs nor did they dispute the quantum.

On 10 October 2003, the plaintiffs prosecuted their application by way of notice of motion seeking that the Chairman of the National Forest Board, Valentine Kambori, and the two other officers of the National Forest Authority, namely, Terry Wara, Acting Managing Director, and Joseph Pea, Acting Finance Manager be cited and punished for contempt in respect of the order of 24 April 2003.

I convicted the Chairman and the other two officers of contempt of court and adjourned the proceedings from 10 October to 17 October 2003 to hear submissions on penalty. In the meantime, I fell ill on the 10 October 2003 and was unwell for sometime. When the contemnors were convicted on 10 October 2003, they applied for bail through their counsel Mr Ian Shepherd and were granted bail. The third order of the bail conditions was that the contemnors were not to leave the National Capital District without the leave of the Court.

On 19 October 2003, the contemnor, Valentine Kambori, travelled to Malaysia without a variation to that condition of bail. He knew full well that he was prohibited from leaving National Capital District unless he was granted permission by the Court. On the same date, the contemnor made a hand–written undertaking to the Court addressed to me via the plaintiffs lawyers. The undertaking was that the week he returned, he would change the name of the payee on the cheque from National Court Trust to Powes Parkop Lawyers Trust. As it were he did not effect the change.

Accordingly, on 20 October 2003, I ordered that he be arrested for breaching the order for bail, and consequently revoked his bail. I also ordered that he be cited for two counts of contempt of court. The Registrar's motion filed in accordance with O14 r47(1) of National Court Rules, was filed on that basis.

On 24 October 2003, the contemnor was brought before Gavara–Nanu J who reinstated bail and made other orders. However, His Honour did not deal with contempt as ordered in paragraph 3 of the orders of 20 October 2003.

On 21 November 2003, the contemnor appeared before me on his application to vary his bail condition so that he could be permitted to travel to Wewak and Rabaul and other places. I refused his application and revoked bail previously granted and imposed other terms and conditions of bail. The Court cited him for contempt, the basis of which, has been adverted to earlier on. The contempt proceedings were adjourned to Wednesday, 26 November 2003, however, due to the Supreme Court sittings, it was further adjourned to Wednesday, 3 December 2003. Again on that day, the contemnor was informed of the two charges of contempt of court. He acknowledged the charges on both occasions. The procedures were further adjourned to Wednesday, 10 December 2003.

It was on 3 December 2003, that the Court, at the contemnor's counsel's submission, ordered the Registrar to file a motion for punishment for contempt in...