By Charley Piringi and Ronald Toito’ona
More former MPs are expected to be arrested in coming months on corruption-related charges, police say today.
This rare assurance came after police arrested and charged William Bradford Marau, the two-term former MP for Ulawa-Ugi, Makira-Ulawa Province, last Thursday.
Police alleged Marau converted $5 million the national government paid to him in 2016 to purchase a ship for his constituency.
Several former MPs also received similar funding under what’s known as the Shipping Grant.
“More arrests of former MPs will follow soon in coming months,” police said in a statement issued earlier today.
The statement said Marau’s case was reported on 27 April 2017 by constituents, prompting an investigation.
“During the course of investigation, it was found on 22 January 2016, the Solomon Islands government paid to Ulawa-Ugi Constituency Account with Bank South Pacific (BSP) an amount of $5 million for the shipping fund.
“Later on 17 February 2016, Marau advised the BSP Bank to transfer the $5 million into his personal account with the ANZ bank.
“Investigation further revealed that 65 withdrawals were made from Marau’s personal account totalling $6,023,326.70 and further 10 withdrawals totalling $4,550,000 were deposits made into the business account of Aslan Stationeries with the ANZ, a private company owned by the suspect.
“At the end of 2016, the balance remaining in Marau’s personal account was $27,868.87.”
Police say Marau faces one count of conversion contrary to section 278 (1) (c) (i) of the Penal Code.
He is due to appear before the Honiara Magistrate Court on 1 February 2024.
Responding to his arrest, Marau told In-depth Solomons that he remains innocent until proven guilty by a court.
“This is a normal police procedure,” Marau said of his arrest, adding that he would not be making further comments since the matter is now before the courts.
But he pointed out that it was from the shipping grant he received that he used to purchase LC Lokoiola, which is currently serving Ulawa-Ugi constituency and other parts of Makira-Ulawa Province.
Marau first entered parliament on 19th November 2014 after working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade for a few years.
He was appointed Minister of Commerce, Industries Labour and Immigration from 15th December 2014 to 28th October 2015. He was then given the Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs portfolio from 28th October 2015 to 4th August 2017.
In the 2019 national elections, he was re-election for his second term.
Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare offered him the Ministry of Lands, Housing, and Survey (MLHS) portfolio where he served for a year before he was sacked in 2020, but remained a government back-bencher.
Meanwhile, head of Transparency Solomon Islands (TSI) Ruth Liloqula welcomed Marau’s arrest and urged the police to do the same to other former MPs.
“The arrest is long-time coming, but we are glad to see it happened,” Liloqula told In-depth Solomons.
She said TSI had assisted the constituents of Ulawa-Ugi with advice when they came up with the complaint against their MP.
“We helped prepare their statement, as well as directed them to report their case with Solomon Islands Commission Against Corruption, the Leadership Code Commission and the police.
“There are few other cases that we’ve assisted constituents with, so I urged the police to deal with them as well,” Liloqula said.