A MALAITA man claims police seem to put more emphasis to investigating robbery cases than high-level corruption.
Francis Tofea of Lau-Mbaelelea in Malaita was speaking to the Solomon Star.
He said he appreciated the efforts police put into the investigation that led to the arrest of those allegedly involved in the ANZ ATM at the Kwaimani building at Kukum, some two weeks ago.
“But I would like to also see the same level of input given to cases of corruption by our politicians,” Mr Tofea said.
“If anything, armed robbery, such as the one involving the ATM, and corruption, which is mostly committed by politicians, are of equal seriousness.
“So the police should give equal attention to such crimes,” he said.
Mr Tofea said politicians steal in millions, while the man on the street only steals a few thousand dollars.
“But the trend now is if there’s a robbery somewhere, you will see the police turning their whole focus to that crime.
“However, that same focus was not given to cases of corruption, so you hardly see politicians taken to face the courts despite stealing or misusing millions of public funds,” he said.
He said in his constituency, despite the millions of dollars given to the people in the name of development, there’s hardly any tangible development.
“Where are the money and projects under the Rural Development Fund to develop the rural communities?
“This is a visible, broad daylight and worst ever corruption one could ever committed.
“And my question is why didn’t the police investigate these daylight corruptions?”
By STEPHEN DIISANGO