Convicted fraudster Gino Lawac has been found guilty of two counts of obtaining money by deception after conning a local businessman out of VT250,000.
The operation has raised concerns about the security within the correctional facility, questioning how Lawac was able to carry out the scam while incarcerated without detection.
The case, which began as a simple driving lesson arrangement, quickly escalated into a complex scheme involving multiple vehicle accidents, a fraudulent land deal, and financial losses.
During his trial in Dumbea, the Prosecution presented five witnesses, including the victim James Matariki, his wife Judith Maseng, and three Correctional Services officers—Steve Leo, Ben Max, and Fabrice Samson. Lawac, a former detainee at the Stade Correctional Centre, chose to remain silent throughout the proceedings.
The court heard testimony from James Matariki, a self-employed water consultant and driving instructor, who recounted how he was first deceived by Lawac in October 2022. Lawac allegedly impersonated a female Bred Bank officer from Santo, calling Matariki to request driving lessons for his son, Mark.
During their first lesson, Mark took Matariki to Stade, leading him to discover that his client’s father, Lawac, was actually in custody. Although Matariki felt deceived, he continued the lessons in good faith. However, under Lawac’s instructions, Matariki hired a vehicle from Hertz Rent-a-Car using his Visa card. Despite strict instructions not to drive alone, Mark—acting on his father’s orders—took the vehicle and crashed into the President’s vehicle in the Georges Pompidou area.
Following this incident, Lawac pressured Matariki to hire another vehicle from Asco Motors, which Mark also crashed. A third rental was later arranged from a Chinese rental company near Tana Russet Plaza. Due to other commitments, Matariki delegated Mark’s required three-month additional driving lessons to another instructor.
After the first accident, an expatriate man, Michel Lethizie, approached Mark and thanked Matariki for staying with him at the police station. Lethizie, whom Matariki believed to be French, stated that he and Lawac wanted to express their gratitude by gifting him a piece of land.
The following day, Matariki and his wife visited Lawac at the Correctional Centre, where he showed them a supposed land title. Over the following weeks, both Lawac and Lethizie pressured Matariki to pay a lease transfer deposit before Lethizie’s arrival in Vanuatu in December 2022. They also claimed that Lethizie wished to become Matariki’s “blood brother.”
Under these pretences, Matariki signed a cheque and handed over his Visa card to Lawac inside the Correctional Centre. However, Lawac later insisted that real estate agent Sam Lewis required the deposit in cash. Determined to secure the land, Matariki withdrew VT250,000 and paid it in installments through the Correctional Centre’s sentry gate. His wife and niece, Marian Naka, assisted in making the payments, with VT65,000 delivered shortly before Lawac’s release on 8 December 2022. Despite multiple requests, Lawac never returned the cheque or Visa card.
After his release, Lawac and Lethizie became unreachable. On 17 January 2023, Matariki and his wife waited at the central market house for a scheduled meeting, but Lawac never showed, claiming to be at Pango. Frustrated and realizing he had been scammed, Matariki ceased his attempts to recover the money. His wife, however, continued following up as she had separately paid VT10,000 for roofing iron sheets, which were also never delivered.
Despite multiple promises, Lawac continuously evaded them, falsely claiming to be in different locations—including Bladiniere, Seaview, Bred Bank, Wharf, and Western Union. When Matariki’s wife confronted him at Western Union, she found no line and no sign of Lawac.
Lawac, a notorious conman, has previously served more than one sentences for defrauding vulnerable individuals through elaborate schemes. This case has further exposed serious security loopholes, allowing a detainee to orchestrate fraud from behind bars.
With VT250,000 lost and no land transferred, Lawac now found guilty on serious charges, including fraud and deception. The case has left his victims financially and emotionally devastated.
The sentence date is yet to be set.
Source Vanuatu Daily Post
