Papua New Guinea has had a specialist fraud and corruption track in the National Court for more than a decade. Its current source is Order 4 of the Criminal Practice Rules 2022.
The 2013 Rules
Made by the Judges on 4 November 2013 under Constitution section 184 and section 8 of the National Court Act (Chapter 38), prescribing the practice and procedure of the National Court of Justice relating to the conduct of criminal cases.
They were expressed to be in addition to and form part of the procedure for pre-trial preparation and listing cases for trial contained in the Criminal Practice Rules 1987.
Order 1 Rule 1 of the Criminal Practice Rules 2022: these Rules come into force on a date determined by the Chief Justice and upon that date the Criminal Practice Rules 1987 are repealed. That date was 1 May 2022.
The 2013 Rules were framed as an addition to the 1987 Rules, and the 2022 Rules now contain their own fraud and corruption regime in Order 4. Practitioners should work from Order 4, and should check the current position of the 2013 Rules before relying on them.
The current regime
“FC” means Fraud and Corruption related cases.
“Judge Administrator (FC)” means the Judge appointed by the Chief Justice to manage the Criminal (FC) track in Waigani.
“Listing process” means the process set out in these Rules and in particular mentions, directions hearing, status conferences and trials.
The types of case which may be dealt with as an FC case include —
(a) offences under the Code or under any other law involving theft, fraud, dishonesty or misappropriation of property, including fraud and corruption; and
(b) offences listed in Schedule 2; and
(c) certain applications under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2005 or the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 2005.
It reaches offences under any other law involving theft, fraud, dishonesty or misappropriation of property. So offences under, for example, the Companies Act 1997 or the Cybercrime Code Act 2016 may qualify where the dishonesty element is present.
And note “may”: qualifying does not put a case on the FC List automatically. Rule 5 gives the Judge Administrator (FC) power, acting on application or on the own motion of the Court, to add or remove a matter from the FC List.
The listed offences
Schedule 2 lists offences of the Criminal Code, grouped by the Code’s own Divisions. They are substantial in number and range well beyond what is usually thought of as “fraud”.
- Division II.3 — offences against the executive and legislative power, including member of the Parliament receiving bribe and bribery of member of the Parliament.
- Division III.1 — disclosing official secrets.
- Division III.2 — corruption and abuse of office, including official corruption, extortion by public officers, abuse of office, public officer making false claim, and bribery of a member of the Public Service.
- Division III.2A — secret commissions.
- Division III.3 — corrupt and improper practices at elections, including personation of a voter, double voting, undue influence and bribery in connection with election.
- Division III.4 — selling and trafficking in office.
- Division III.5 — offences relating to administration of justice, including judicial corruption, perjury, fabricating evidence, corruption of witness and attempting to pervert course of justice.
- Divisions III.6 to III.9 — escapes and obstructing officers of courts; offences relating to currency; offences relating to posts and telecommunications; and miscellaneous offences against public authority.
- Divisions IV.4, IV.5, V.8 and V.9 — further offences against public health, liberty, and parental rights and duties.
- Division VI.1 — stealing and similar offences.
- Division VI.3 — forgery and like offences: personation.
- Division VI.4 — offences connected with trade and breach of contract, including a long series of insolvency frauds and falsification of books of companies.
Rules 3 and 4
Rule 3(1) — the Chief Justice may appoint a Judge Administrator (FC) to manage the FC List in Waigani and assign Judges to conduct matters on it.
Rule 3(2) — FC cases commenced in a registry other than Waigani shall be managed by the Judge Administrator for that registry in accordance with the same Rules.
Rule 4(1) — the Registrar shall assign a senior clerk and such other clerks to maintain the FC List in the Waigani registry, acting in accordance with the directions of the Judge Administrator.
Rule 4(2) — files for FC cases in other registries are maintained by a clerk appointed by the Registrar under the instructions of the Assistant Registrar for that registry.
The FC List proper is a Waigani list, but Rule 3(2) applies the same practice and procedure to FC cases everywhere. So a fraud case committed in a provincial registry is managed under Order 4 by that registry’s Judge Administrator.
On what the management involves, see how FC cases are managed.
Order 4 Division 3
Division 3 applies to applications under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2005 and the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 2005. It deals with how such proceedings are commenced, oral applications, the respondent or affected person to be present, notice of appearance, preservation of secrecy, consent orders, and prescribed forms.
Rule 17 is notable: it applies the National Court Rules 1983 to certain of those applications — so the civil procedure familiar from Order 4 Division 5 may govern them.
Sources
- Criminal Practice Rules 2022 — O 1 rr 1–3; O 4 rr 1–19; Sch 2
- Criminal Code Act (Chapter 262)
- National Court Act (Chapter 38) — s 8
- National Court Rules 1983
The Criminal Practice (Fraud & Corruption Related Offences) Rules 2013, the Proceeds of Crime Act 2005 and the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 2005 are not available on PacLII. The Schedule 2 list is set out in the published Rules as a table pairing each offence with its Criminal Code section; the section numbers do not align reliably in the PacLII PDF, so offences are described here by Division rather than by section. Check the published Rules before relying on a particular section number.
Before relying on anything here, read the current text of the National Court Rules 1983 and check for later amendments. If a decision matters to you, get advice — start with the Office of the Public Solicitor, or find a firm in the law firms directory.