MADANG LAW FIRMS USE “GARNISHEE ORDER” TO SOLICIT DDA FUNDS; NAGURI

BY LETHISA KOLOKOL
CERTAIN Law firms in Madang Province have been allegedly using the Garnishee Order to steal money from the District Development Authorities (DDAs) in the province, that is according to the Member for Bogia, Robert Naguri.

Mr Naguri in today’s parliament sitting, questioned the Minister for Justice and Attorney General, Pila Niningi about the legality of the Garnishee order and what measures the law society of a PNG will take to stop this misconduct by certain lawyers in Madang Province, who have been allegedly the law to steal money from the DDAs.

A garnishee order is a court order that legally compels a third party to pay a debt directly to a creditor on behalf of a debtor. This process is used to enforce a judgment when the debtor has not paid the amount owed.

Mr Naguri explained that a lawyer in the province has taken his district to the Madang National Court and the court has granted the lawyer the garnishee order, ordering the district to pay the lawyer large sums of money, similar cases are happening in Middle Ramu District, Usino Bundi District and Madang District.

The Member for Madang, Bryan Kramer in his supplementary question has also highlighted that Madang District has paid a sum of K5 million to the lawyer, through the garnishee order.

Kramer asked the Minster Niningi to amend the DDA act to protect the authority from the court order, of which to his response, Minster Niningi said his department will conduct thorough investigations into the matter before any action is taken to address the issue.

Minister Niningi confirmed that this is a common practice amongst lawyers who collude with banks to solicit funds in such manner, in other districts as well, and his ministry will investigate into the matter.