Maprik MP John Simon acquitted but reputation not

Maprik MP John Simon was cleared of false pretense and official corruption charges this morning by the Waigani Committal Court.

He appeared before Cosmar Bidar who dropped the charges which were in relation to his approval of certain payments to his hire car company and a constructions company in which he was alleged to have an interest in earlier this year.

He admitted that his reputation as a leader was tarnished by the police fraud investigators.

He said the police should have handled the case professionally by written invitations for an interview to answer to the allegations and provide evidences to justify himself instead of arresting him at the airport as a common criminal earlier this year when he was about to board a flight out of Port Moresby.

He said despite the court dropping the charges his reputation as a leader will never be the same.

“In the history of this country I am one of the MP’s known as a corrupt MP’s. The court has cleared me but that thing will live with me how can I clear that? Its very hard to build up a leader.”

He said his credibility and integrity has been questioned by his people and his reputation has been tarnished on social media since his arrest.

He says the court has cleared him of the charges but his reputation will never be cleared.

The MP wants Post Courier to set the record straight by giving prominence and publish the court acquitting him of corruption charges.

He says his reputation has been tarnished and it can not be fixed after the negative publicity.

It is understood that earlier this year Post Courier published a front page story on the arrest of Maprik MP John Simon who was arrested on these counts of false pretense and official corruption by the police fraud investigators at Jackson’s Airport when he was about to board a flight out of Port Moresby.