Hotel manager to stand trial

By GEORGINA KOREI
A COMMITTAL court in Waigani has found enough evidence to commit Shangri Lah hotel manager Yip Chee Ming Sam to stand trial in the National Court on Monday.
Sam, 48, from Kuala Lumpar’s Perak village, in Malaysia, was charged with selling counterfeit beer bearing South Pacific Brewery Ltd’s trademark.
Magistrate Paul Puri Nii told Sam that he had read through the declaration (section 96) statement that was submitted by his lawyer on Tuesday.
“I have read the section 96 statement and I am satisfied that there was a repetition,” he said.
“The paragraph 1-9 of the section 96 is a repetition of the arguments already presented in the defence submission and the decision on that has been handed down which the defendant is committed to stand trial.”
Magistrate Nii told the defendant that the issued raised in paragraphs 9-24 concerning the police evidence were irrelevant at the committal courts.
“It is for the higher courts to consider the issues with evidence during trial,” he told the defendant.
Police alleged that on Christmas Eve, information was received that there was a container filled with “fake green cans of beer” parked at the back of the club located at section 38, allotment 21, along the Waigani Drive.
Police said, the SP Brewery sales team had been conducting investigations into complaints of fake beer being circulated in the country.
The investigations started in 2019 when several tests were conducted on the fake cans of beer, which were confirmed to be true that they were fake and were circulated around the country.
SP Brewery security investigations then conducted surveillance on the container.
While surveillance had been conducted with the help of police, the container was opened and a large number of fake green cans.