Paul Paraka, once a prominent lawyer and a powerful figure who owned the biggest law firm in the country that recruited, groomed and build many lawyers, is now fighting a lone battle.
“No lawyers are willing to assist me with my cases,” Paraka told a judge at the Waigani Supreme Court on Tuesday this week as he battles his conviction and 20-years imprisonment for misappropriating of over K162 million in public funds.
His voice subdued but steady, Mr Paraka pleaded to the single Supreme Court judge, Justice David Cannings, to hear him out and grant him his application requesting for an extension of time to file an application for leave for a Slip Rule application.
For Paraka, who once helped shape the lawyering profession by recruiting bulk of new law graduates every year, the courtroom has now become a place he walks into alone. He told the court that for more than a year he had pleaded for help from the Office of the Public Solicitor and approached private lawyers, only to be turned away each time.
“My numerous requests to the Office of the Public Solicitor and even private lawyers were all unsuccessful,” he said, explaining why he was seeking an extension of time to file an application for leave to make a Slip Rule application.
Seated as he made his submissions, Paraka painted a picture of a man battling not only the justice system but his own declining health. He recalled how he filed his initial application within the required 21-day period in November 2024, and how, almost immediately afterwards, his world collapsed.
He became critically ill and was hospitalised on November 1, 2024. Doctors later diagnosed him with severe triple-vessel coronary artery disease. The emotional strain following the dismissal of his appeal, he said, “crushed” him and accelerated the deterioration of his health.
Medical records tendered in court showed that Paraka had undergone multiple invasive angiogram procedures and currently suffers seven arterial blockages. Specialists, he said, are recommending urgent overseas surgery.
“Your Honour, that is why I couldn’t file and serve my application for extension on time,” he told the court.
With no legal assistance while in custody, Paraka said he prepared his Slip Rule arguments alone by drafting 37 grounds of alleged judicial “slips” from his prison cell.
But Acting Public Prosecutor Helen Roalakona opposed the application, arguing that although Paraka filed on time, he failed to serve it within the mandatory 21-day period. She said the grounds raised were not slips at all, but attempts to revisit arguments already rejected by the National Court.
Justice Cannings agreed that Paraka had managed to file other proceedings and should not be treated differently. However, because the application itself was filed within time, the court still had jurisdiction to grant an extension.
Justice Cannings did grant Paraka his applicationg, allowing Paraka more time for him to file his application for leave for a Slip Rule application in the Supreme Court.
Justice Cannings set the matter for directions hearing next Monday.
The court will then determine whether a single Supreme Court judge or a full bench will hear the Slip Rule application. A tentative hearing date has been set for Tuesday, 16 December 2025, at 1:30pm.
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