Two questions, asked in that order, by almost every family with a relative in the cells. The answers are less mysterious than people fear — and the refund answer in particular has a clear procedure that many people never use.
There is no price list
Papua New Guinea has no prescribed scale of bail amounts. Neither the Bail Act (Chapter 340) nor the Bail Regulation 1977 sets a figure for any offence. The amount is fixed by the bail authority in the circumstances of the case.
You can see this in the court’s own paperwork. Under the Bail Rules 2021, the applicant uses Form 1 to propose a cash bail figure and propose guarantors. The Bail Certificate (Form 5) then records the result as a blank to be filled in: “Cash bail in the sum of K.......... shall be paid prior to release from custody.”
Under the Bail Rules, making a bail application in the National Court is itself free of charge. The cash bail is not a court fee.
What the law says about affordability
Two provisions do real work here, and both are on your side.
Section 18(1)(d) — before fixing any condition, the bail authority must satisfy itself that the condition will not cause the person financial hardship. Section 18 also requires that conditions not interfere with the person’s means of earning a living, and not be unreasonable in all the circumstances.
Section 19(6) — where a guarantor is required to lodge money or undertake to pay, the bail authority “shall take into account the financial means of the guarantor.”
So a figure that a family plainly cannot raise is a figure the Act tells the court not to set. If one is set anyway, section 20 allows either party to apply to vary the terms and conditions of bail at any time, on reasonable notice — to a court of jurisdiction not lower than the one that granted bail.
What figures actually appear in reported cases
There is no tariff, but reported judgments give a rough sense of the range. Treat these as illustrations, not entitlements — and note that in several of them the figure was what the applicant offered, not what a court fixed:
| Case | Charge | Figure |
|---|---|---|
| Julius Kesno v The State (2012) N5264 | Wilful murder, GBH | K500–K1,000 offered, plus two guarantors at K500 each |
| David James George v State (2018) N7230 | Wilful murder | K1,000 offered, plus two guarantors at K500 each |
| The State v Mohamad Abdul Alim (2013) N5061 | Bribery | K500 cash bail, later increased by the court to K1,000 |
| The State v Philip Kikala (SC2355, 2023) | Misappropriation of over K1.1 million | K10,000 cash bail plus K5,000 from each of two guarantors |
The pattern is unremarkable: ordinary matters in the hundreds to low thousands of kina; large-scale financial crime an order of magnitude higher.
Getting the money back
This is where families lose money simply by not knowing the procedure exists.
There is no automatic refund. Cash bail comes back by court order, under Rule 23 of the Bail Rules 2021. The Court considers discharging a person from their bail obligations and closing the bail file where:
- the National Court granted bail pending committal and the District Court refused to commit; or
- the Court revokes bail; or
- the person has faced trial and been acquitted and faces no other charge requiring bail; or
- other circumstances exist that in the Court’s opinion warrant discharge.
The order is made in the terms of Form 24, which reads: “the person granted bail is discharged from their bail obligations; and their cash bail in the sum of K…….. shall be refunded forthwith upon presentation of a receipt.”
- Keep the receipt. The refund is expressed to happen on presentation of the receipt issued when the cash was paid. Photograph it. Keep the paper somewhere dry.
- Someone has to ask. Rule 23 says the Court “shall consider” discharge — it is not triggered automatically the moment a case ends. If nobody raises it, a closed file can sit with your money in it.
- Conviction is not on the list. The four triggers do not name conviction. A refund after conviction has to be sought under the catch-all limb — so ask, in court, at the time.
When the money is taken instead
Two provisions can cost you the security, and both carry the same short deadline.
Section 19(7) — where the person granted bail fails to appear or comply, the court may order that money lodged by a guarantor be paid to the State, or that the guarantor pay the amount he undertook to pay. A guarantor affected has 14 days to apply for variation or revocation (section 19(8)); under the Bail Rules that application is Form 14.
Section 22 — where a person on bail contravenes his bail obligations, the court may forfeit the whole or part of the security. Money undertaken to be paid is deemed a judgement that the person pay the State; a cash deposit may be paid into the Consolidated Revenue Fund. Again, 14 days to apply for variation or revocation (section 22(3)) — Form 15 under the Rules. In both cases the court may make any order it considers just.
Fourteen days is short and it runs from the making of the order, not from when you find out. Diarise it the same day.
The short version
No scale, no fee, and no automatic refund. The amount should reflect what you and your guarantor can actually afford, and the money comes back on a court order in Form 24 when you produce the receipt. Ask for that order — do not wait to be offered it.
The amounts above come from reported cases and are not a guide to what any court will fix in your matter. Speak to a lawyer or the Office of the Public Solicitor.