A MAN accused to bribing a court official to alter court records has hit out at the claim on Thursday.
And Jefter Tuhangenga, a west Rennell man, said he welcomed any police investigation into the claim.
Magistrate Court official Jimmy Hanahunu on Wednesday alleged Mr Tuhangenga offered him $2,000 to alter court records.
This was in relation to the acquisition of west Rennell land by Asia Pacific Investment Development (APID) for development purposes.
Mr Hanahunu instead took the money and showed it to Magistrate Esther Lelapitu, before deciding to expose the alleged incident in the media.
But Mr Tuhangenga said:
“I never offered any $2,000 cash to Jimmy during our conversation, except for the copy of the appeal document, which we have lodged early this year and I was following up on it by asking him if he could recover the document.
“Why should I bribe the officer to backdate my appeal against APID acquisition of west Rennell when the certificate is already revoked by the Principal Magistrate?”
He claimed the certificate of no appeal issued by Magistrate Lelapitu was already revoked by the principal magistrate Jim Seuika.
However, the Solomon Star understands this was not the case as only the High Court can revoke that certificate.
Mr Tuhangenga said the allegation was aimed at tarnishing his name.
“If Mr Hanahunu is genuine, why didn’t he expose the incident in the media the same day? Why wait two days later?”
Mr Hanahunu earlier said he has to wait for the chief magistrate to brief him of the issue before going public.
He said he had already reported the matter to police for investigations.
By AATAI JOHN
