APEC Maseratigate In Numbers

The national government has acquired a fleet of over 800 new vehicles for the APEC Summit it is hosting next month. Meanwhile public anger grows over lavish spending on foreign dignitaries while local children go without adequate healthcare.

PNGi has collated data on vehicle expenditure in a series of graphs so the public can see Maseratigate in its full complexity.

Vehicle numbers, types and suppliers have all been taken from the PNG government’s official APEC website.

As questions are raised over the propriety of these vehicle purchases, it ought to be asked – is this the tip of a great APEC swindle?

What other public largesse has taken place under the veil of preparing for APEC?

PNGi has closely analysed a vast range of audit reports, inquiry findings, and internal records. Time and time again we see different departments and authorities fall prey to the same set of abuses.

If these patterns of misconduct have infected preparations for the APEC summit we should expect to see:

• State land give aways to companies proposing to build essential APEC infrastructure.
• Inflated contracts for those providing goods and services to the APEC summit.
• Big ticket infrastructure items paid for out of the public purse that will become the White Elephants of the future.
• Distribution of contracts to favoured companies, linked to powerful political patrons and senior civil servants.
• Exorbitant salaries and expense accounts for those involved in overseeing APEC preparation, secured through improper means.
• Expediting of procurement outside ordinary tender processes, alongside other improper corner cutting, under the justification of APEC deadlines.
• Deficient record keeping.

With so many hands here in PNG and internationally potentially dipped in the blood of APEC, it is hard to imagine any scrutiny will be brought to bear on expenditure and decision making around the APEC summit.

Only international outcry and national mobilisation has a chance of shining a spotlight on  APEC 2018.